Homeless Two Tail
by Green Raccoon
Summary: Miles Prower is a two tailed fox who is constantly bullied and forced to eat garbage. When a certain blue hedeghog shows up on Westside Island however, Miles' life starts to change. With Eggman and his new super weapon out there he may finally get a chance at happier times.
1. Chapter 1

_Here is a Sonic and Tails fan fic. It's mostly about Tails but Sonic is just as important. Enjoy._

**Prologue **

" Aww man! I hope someone at least put something uneaten in the trash can today. I'm starving." Complained the two tailed fox as he walked toward the park on Westside Island. He has been wondering this island for two years after he was thrown out of the orphanage. He was confused why the house keeper lady didn't like the fact that he had intruded on her. Miles saw the lady half-naked on top of some guy. He didn't know what they were doing but right now he didn't care. He needed some food. It's been three days since he actually had something to eat.

"Huh what's this?" The 4-year-old fox stared at the questionable sign that was put up in front of the park entrance. He knew he'd probably get yelled at like always for not reading a sign before doing something so he began reading.

'No trespassers. An adult must accompany every child that enters the park.' And written badly in marker underneath it said 'That means you Homeless Two Tail!' Miles examined the horrible handwriting and tried to put the words together inside his head. Once they were pieced together he immediately recognized that style of handwriting.

"Hang Nail!" Miles nearly shouted. Hang Nail was the nick name of the purple bully that kept beating him up almost everyday. Miles was not angry to see this written on the sign, he was more depressed than angry. Miles looked down on the ground and stared at it sadly. Unknowing to him red flicking eyes were starring at him from behind.

" In sight of a lone Westside island specimen. Preparing to extract data." Said the dark metal voice. His hand reached out of the bushes toward Miles when the fox was suddenly was picked up by someone. The metal figure drew back his hand and hid, knowing if more than one person him saw him before the invasion the plan would be screwed.

"Hey homeless two tail!" Shouted the big purple jaguar. He basically looked like a punk ass jungle man. He had a brown sash around his waist, a pair of brown sandals on his feet and two red ribbons on his wrists. Miles looked at him with obvious fear in his eyes.

"H-hey h-hang nail." Miles studdered. He tried not calling him by his real name again. The last time he did that he ended up with 5 pinecones in his mouth.

"What's wrong? You scared!" Hang Nail asked as he clutched Miles' chest as he held him in the air.

"N-no…I j-just wanted to…go into the park." Miles tried not to offend him in anyway. Just then HangNail slammed Miles' face against the sign.

"Can't you read the sign? It says no freaks allowed!" Hang Nail shouted. Miles knew it didn't say that for he read it already. HangNail knew Miles was smart so he would often call him geek or nerd. Other times he'd treat him as if he were a regular 4-year-old. This included him thinking Miles couldn't read a simple sign. Miles couldn't read now though. His face was smushed against the wording. He felt a slight pain as the purple Jaguar kept pushing down on Miles' head to make his face increase the impact on the sign. HangNail all of a sudden dropped him on the ground.

'_Why? Why does this kid always pick on me.' Miles_ questioned in his mind as he saw two other bullies walk over. One was a red monkey (Male) and the other was a white panther (Female).

"Hey HangNail, are you beaten on the kid without us?" asked the monkey.

"No, I'm just teaching him how to read Slips." Hang Nail answered to the monkey whose name was apparently Slips.

"Well I want to teach him how to count next." The whit panther known as Silt said while picking up the confused Miles by his chest hairs. Miles raised an eyebrow wondering what she meant by that. Suddenly the girl drew back a fist punched him square in the nose. Miles flew back into the sign with a huge thud. "There, count how many stars you see. There will be a test tomorrow." She and the other bullies laughed as they walked into the park.

Miles sat on the ground trying to get his vision to focus and the stars he was seeing to disappear. He shook his head and watched the three walk into the food and game filled park. Those bullies had let him off easy today. Usually their plans would involve a huge beating or public humiliation. Miles remembered the last time they publicly humiliated him.

_Flashback _

Miles was tied to the branch of a tree by his tails. He was over a trashcan filled with the most disgusting things ever. HangNail had tied the tails a little lose so he could carry out his plan correctly. Hang Nail grabbed a mega-phone and shouted into it to all the other kids on the beach (Their were no adults present).

"Ladies and gentlemen, who wants to play the great game of two tail trash dump!" he shouted into it. All the kids came running over and immediately started laughing at the sight of Miles hanging over a trash can. "This game is real simple folks. All you have to do is give us five bucks then hit the fox with a brown stick as much as you wish until he falls into the pile of unknown garbage." Hang Nail explained.

"WHAT!" Miles shouted in disbelief. He had to break free. Miles started to struggle but he couldn't move. If he did the tails would untie and he would fall in the trashcan. He soon stopped struggling and decided to except his fate. One kid gave Slips the monkey five bucks and grabbed a stick. Miles stared down at him extremely scared. Without warning he began striking Miles with the stick over and over again. When he finished his fifth hit the five bucks was up and the next kid was up. After a couple of minutes of torture Miles was feeling woozy. His Miles were really lose and it looked like one more hit would cause him to fall. A girl came with the stick and gave it a forceful blow at Miles' stomach. Miles wheezed out a lot of air before his tails came undone and he fell in the trash.

" Well wasn't that fun folks. Hahahahahahahahaha!" Hang Nail laughed. All the other kids started laughing too. Silt slammed the lid on Miles' exposed feet picked the can up. Everyone followed Silt to the top of the hill, still chuckling. Silt put Miles down on the edge of the hill and pushed the can over. Miles rolled fast down the hill until a tree got in its way and it slammed into the tree. The lid flew off and Miles rolled out of the mess. He lied on his stomach and began throwing up. All the kids laughed and walked away.

_End flashback_

Miles got up and looked in the park. All those kids happily playing with their moms and dads. He overlooked a kid tugging his mom's shirt.

"Mommy, mommy can I please have some candy?" The kid asked.

"No. It will ruin your teeth." The mother said to the child.

"But I want some." He wined.

"Sorry but you can't have any."

"Awwww!"

Miles sighed as he watched the kid complain about a messily piece of candy when he had a home, a family, and food at his disposal.

"He doesn't know how good he's got it." Miles mumbled.

"Tell you what, we'll get you a hotdog instead." Suggested the mother.

"Okay!" Agreed the kid snapping out of his tantrum. They walked off together to get the hotdogs. Miles then saw a one tailed fox running up to his mom who was sitting on a park bench.

"Mommy, mommy! I cut my finger." Panicked the young fox.

"Now, now, it's okay. Here." She said pulled out a bandage from her bag. She tore the paper off and took the plastic off the bandage. Then she gently placed it over the fox's ungloved finger. A couple of tears had left the fox's eyes while she was doing this. The mother quickly noticed this and whipped the tears off his eyes. "There There, is that better?" She asked. The kid sniffed then nodded. "From now on you wear your gloves when outside okay." She said.

"Okay mommy." The fox took the gloves out of his mother's bag and put them on. The mother kissed him on the cheek, which made him smile. They both got up and walked off together.

Miles was on the verge of tears. He walked into the park completely forgetting what the sign said and started to look for food while he thought about his questionable life. He had always wondered what it would be like to have a mom who would bandage his cuts. He had always wondered what it would be like to have a dad to protect him from danger. Miles usually had to rap his cuts around leaves and he tried multiple times to protect himself against those bullies but always ended up face first in the dirt. He knew he was barely getting by and he had to do something. If he didn't he'd be dead soon. Miles was depressed about his life everyday. He was beginning to think he might become suicidal.

He was pondering this idea when he bumped into a trashcan. He looked inside the can and saw a half-eaten cheeseburger.

"Wow! It must be my lucky day!" Miles said grabbing the burger. He didn't even think to wipe it off before taking a bite out of it. He suddenly was tapped on the shoulder by something he turned around and saw two park rangers.

"Hey boy what are you doing in here?" The first one asked.

"I was just getting some food." Miles held out the half-eaten cheeseburger. The other park ranger smacked the burger out of his hand and it fell on the ground. Miles bent down to pick it u but was kicked in the stomach by one the park rangers. He grabbed on to his stomach and vomited up the piece of the burger he ate on the ranger's shoes.

"Ugh! Look what you did you freak!" shouted the angry ranger.

"We both know you have no parents or guardian so why don't you just beat it!" shouted the other ranger.

"Please sir, I haven't eaten in three days! I'm really hungry." Miles pleaded.

"Go eat the sand off the beach!" The ranger with the messed up shoes said before stomping on the cheeseburger and smashing it in the dirt. Miles almost freaked out as he saw the once delectable looking burger smashed in the dirt. "Now get out of here before we have to make you leave." They both said walking off.

Miles looked down sadly at the flattened burger. His stomach started to growl the loudest it had ever growled in his life. He was so hungry he didn't care if he ate a pile of crap right now. He picked up the flat burger that was covered in dirt and vomit and shoved it in his mouth. It tasted horrible. He chewed the bad tasting food and cried while he did it. Soon he swallowed it and continued crying on the ground.

"Hey move you freak!" Some man yelled down at Miles. Miles got up and walked off. He walked out of the park and headed toward the secret patch of grass only he knew about. He lied on the grass on his stomach and began crying louder. This just wasn't fair. Everyone on Westside Island was kind to one another but when it came to Miles they would all treat him like dirt. This place had always been a community filled with people who want to be perfect in everyway. Their bodies were to have nothing wrong with them. If something like the birth defect Miles got happened they family would disown the baby. The baby was either thrown out in the street, given to the orphanage filled with people that treats you like dirt and barely feed you, or they could kill you on the spot. It was allowed by the law of Westside Island to kill any imperfect babies. His parents must've loved him enough not to throw him in the street or kill him. Miles continued to cry.

"Mom! Dad! I wish you were here!" Miles shouted and continued crying.

_Meanwhile in Station Square_

"I haven't heard anything out of Eggman lately. This is perfect now I can plan my vacation." Sonic said walked down a sidewalk with a street flooded with passing cars behind him. Sonic had always been loner but at the same time still felt lonely. He loved to move fast and didn't want anyone slowing him down if he ever considered meeting someone. He didn't really have a best friend. Hell even Dr. Eggman has friends, if you want to call multiple silver robots and Bokkun his friends. The eleven-year-old hedgehog thought it was time to get out his biplane for this trip. "All right, lets do this." Sonic said racing toward his house.

_Hovering over the Westside Island_

"So you nearly got caught huh?" Said the crusty voice

"Yes. I'm sorry I almost ruined your brilliant plan doctor." Said the robot.

"Hmph! Eggman doesn't have time for failures! Right doctor." Bokkun the massager boy said toward Eggman.

"Settle down Bokkun." Said the crusty voice again. The person was confirmed to be Eggman sitting in his chair. "This particular robot is more unique than any I've created. There will be no reason to scold him for making a mistake he obviously won't be making again." Eggman said in a slightly threatening voice. The robot understood what the doctor meant and exited the room.

"Uh doctor…why do you trust that robot so much." Bokkun asked.

"Because…who doesn't trust a blue hedgehog?" Eggman sneered.

_That was my first chapter. Everyone who read this and loved it review as many times as you wish. Do it over 100 times if you wish I don't care. As long as you review I'm happy. Will be back with another chapter soon._


	2. Chapter 2

_I got five reviews last time I updated (Which was really the first time). Thanks for the reviews everyone. I got a review that told me that I didn't carry the concept across the line so I'll at least make an attempt to do that this time._

**Chapter 1: Beginning of Renewal**

Sonic zoomed to his small house located in the Mystic Ruins. He was so excited that he was finally going to get the chance he has wanted for years. About a month ago Eggman attacked Station Square with a huge spider like robot that was sent to gather metal for some unknown reason. Sonic chased the thing from the rooftops but was never able to capture the beast. He hasn't heard from Eggman since then. It was perfect! Sonic walked into his house and headed for the rusty garage. He walked into the garage and took a look at his rusty red biplane.

"Probably should get it cleaned up before I go. Ah who cares, I'm famous!" Sonic chuckled then began to open the huge garage door. The sunlight poured into the garage and over the ocean to create a vision of pour sparkling water. Sonic walked on the planes' walkway and looked down at the sparkling water. "Yup, the weather says it all. It's my lucky day." Sonic ran toward his plane and jumped inside. He jammed the key in the socket and turned it. The biplane made a loud humming sound, which signaled that it was running. Sonic then drove the plane down the walkway and flew off the edge and into the air. "Whoo Hoo!" Sonic shouted flying off. Unaware of the silver liquid that was behind his biplane the whole time. The liquid shape-shifted into a metal figure.

"Blue hedgehog data has been copied. Preparing to return to Westside Island." Said the metal figure who spoke into the communication bracelet.

"Good! Did you put the device inside the planes' engine?" asked Eggman from the other end.

"Affirmative. His engine should expire in about an hour." Answered the metal figure.

"Great. Oh and remember, this plan better not fail !" Eggman warned. The metal figure turned off his bracelet and stood there for a minute.

"…Returning to Westside Island." He said before turning back into the silver liquid and seeping into the ocean below.

_Westside Island_

Miles sat on the open field of grass and stared at the sky. He wondered if his parents were watching him suffer. Why didn't they help him? He was the biggest disappointment to this island. No one even cared for him or tried to help him. No one even gave him their spare change. Miles looked at himself. He was dirty, smelly, and above all…a freak. He got up and walked toward his 'secret rock' and lifted it up. He took out a purple colored emerald and a picture. He looked at the picture and saw him and a woman he assumed to be his mom in it. The picture was found hidden in his baby booties back at the orphanage. The woman was a single tailed fox who was holding a baby. He thought it was weird. If this woman was his mom then why would she take a picture of him and her together knowing that if she got caught seen with him she'd be killed on the spot.

"Nothing about my past makes sense." Miles said holding the picture to his chest and clutching the emerald.

"Nothing makes sense about your life two tail!" Yelled HangNail from behind.

"Hang Nail!" Miles said completely startled. How'd he find this place? He put the emerald and picture behind his back.

"What's that behind your back?" asked Silt the Panther as she approached the scared fox.

"Nothing." He lied already knowing they wouldn't buy it. Silt grabbed Miles then forced his body around. She was now staring at a beautiful purple emerald.

"W-w-w-w-w-where did y-y-you get t-this?" She stuttered as she stared at the amazing jewel. Slips and Hang Nail walked up to them and stared at it too.

"Y-you're suppose to be broke and poor." Slips said surprised.

"I am." Miles answered.

"Then why do you have a jewel?" Hang Nail asked astonished.

"I thought it looked pretty so I kept it. Is it valuable?" asked Miles clearly showing that he had never seen or heard of a jewel before.

"Give me that!" Hang Nail snatched the emerald from him and pushed him down. Miles saw them grab his picture that fell off the ground. He stood up and tried to grab it from Hang Nail but Slips and Silt grabbed him before he could reach him. Miles struggled but couldn't break free.

"Please give it back." Miles pleaded. That was his only proof he had parents or at least someone who cared about him.

"Who is this? Two tails' dead mommy perhaps." Hang Nail held the picture out in front of him and drew back his sharp claws. Miles felt the tears coming.

"Don't do it." Miles mumbled. Hang Nail slashed the picture about four times with both his paws at a fast pace. Hundreds of small pieces of the picture fell on the ground. Miles looked at it in horror. Slips and Silt let him go and he immediately dropped to the ground.

"Whoops, I accidentally ripped it apart." Hang Nail said before they all laughed wildly. Miles tuned out what they had said. He stared at the obliterated evidence of his families' existence. The three bullies walked off with the purple emerald in hand. Miles couldn't believe it. His last and only clue to figuring out his past was gone.

"It can't be gone." Miles reached for the pieces but the wind completely blew them away. Miles still continued to stare at the spot where the shreds once were. He then got an angry look on his face and turned to look at Hang Nail.

"So do you think that jewel is real?" asked Slips.

"I don't know? I think I'll take it to a diamond shop and get it…" POW! Hang Nail was hit over the head by the rock Miles used to cover the emerald and the picture. Hang Nail grabbed his head in pain. Slips and Silt gasped and turned to Miles. Miles stood there with an angry look on his face, which soon turned back to normal when he realized what he had done. Hang Nail turned to Miles and gave him a huge glare. The three bullies walked toward him and grabbed his arms.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to…" Miles began before he was punched by Hang Nail across the face. Miles looked shocked for a second before the three bullies slammed his face into the dirt and began pounding him. There were forceful blows put at his body for 30 minutes!

"No one messes with me and gets away with it." Hang Nail said before walking off with the other two. Miles was left in the dirt with a battered and bruised body. He was barely conscious anymore.

"My…picture…mommy…me…baby………freak…" He mumbled slowly before drifting to unconsciousness.

_Outside the Diamond shop_

"This island seems far enough from Station Square. I think I'll poke around here for awhile until my trail cools down." Said a white bat in a purple jumpsuit walking on the sidewalk. She was outside a diamond shop when she saw three kids walk into the shop holding a beautiful purple gem. The bat stared at it for a second then watched as it was taken into the shop. "Hmm, I may be running but I'm diffidently not hiding." The bat said entering the shop and jumping to the ceiling. She immediately stuck to the top and looked down at the three kids.

"Hey clerk! Get out here!" Demanded the jaguar. A store clerk immediately arose from behind the counter, which startled the hell out of them.

"What can I do for you." Said the lizard. The bat gasped when she saw who the store clerk was.

"Yes can you tell us if this jewel is real." Slips said as Hang Nail held it out to the lizard. The lizard's eyes widened.

"Sweet Mary Mother of God! Jackpot!" He shouted while snatching the jewel from him. The three kids looked confused for a second until the lizard cleared his throat. "Uh, this is no jewel. It's an emerald." The lizard said fake examining the emerald.

"Is there a difference?" Silt asked.

"Of course! I'll have it back to you once I've discovered it's worth. Now get out!" He shouted. The three did what they were told. They were obviously thinking the lizard was really weird. Once the lizard saw they were gone he quickly turned around and ran into his office. "Ha Ha Ha! I've finally found it." Started the lizard.

"Found what?" The white bat somehow made its way in the room.

"I know that voice. Rouge, Rouge the Bat? What are you doing here you slut!" The lizard asked.

"Listen Gel, I may be a jewel thief but I know a lot more than you do. That includes what that thing is. It's called a chaos emerald. There are only 7 of them in the whole world. No one else knows much about them but to know as much as I said is probably enough." Rouge explained.

"Oh you think you're so smart. Well at least I have the emerald and your stuck with…that sexy attire and…that wonderful figure." Gel said trailing off for a minute.

"Put your damn rolling eyeballs back in your scaly head Gel! Give me that emerald!" Rouge lunged at the lizard and he quickly dodged. Rouge pounded her feet against the wall at the other end of the room and lunged at him again. Gel jumped and flipped over this time. When he landed he grabbed Rouge's foot. Rouge thought quickly and immediately spun around. The force caused Gel to twirl around as well. He soon stopped the spinning when he let go of the foot and ducked as soon as Rouge stopped spinning and threw a kick at him. She kept kicking and he used his tongue for defense. He then rapped his tongue around her leg and lashed her against the wall.

"Okay so you've gotten better." Rouge said getting up and lunging at him for the third time.

"I've done some practicing." Gel blocked the kick she was trying to deliver to him and they both stood there for a while.

"Okay Gel, I was trying to save you but if you want to get your dumb ass killed. Go right ahead." Rouge turned around and exited.

"Good, she's gone." Gel said turning back to the emerald.

_Over the ocean_

Sonic was riding happily in the biplane while wearing sunglasses and holding a bottle of sunscreen.

"Okay, I'm coming up on an island known as Westside. Sounds so plain. Oh well I'm coming vacation!" Sonic shouted. All of a sudden his biplane began beeping. It started out slow but rapidly increased. "What's that sound?' Sonic looked down at the cockpit of the red biplane. Suddenly without warning the cockpit exploded.

"What the!" Sonic freaked out as the plane started to smoke. Sonic tried a pathetic attempt to blow out the fire with the wind from his mouth. He blew on it about two times before the front of the plane erupted in flames. "AHHHHH!" Sonic scouted to the back of the plane. All of a sudden the plane began to spin out of control. Sonic grabbed on the seat of the plane and watched as the plane plummeted to the water below. He had to think of something, but what? That's when Sonic remembered the stuff he packed. He reached down into the seat and grabbed an inflatable titanium raft and an umbrella. He pulled the cord of the raft and threw it below the plane. It immediately inflated into the titanium raft. Sonic held the umbrella above his head as the plane crashed into the raft.

"It's time to go sailing." Sonic said as the raft popped a huge hole and blasted the raft, the plane, and Sonic toward the nearby island. "It's a good thing this raft can hold over 1000 times it's own weight." Sonic smiled. His smiled faded when he saw that he was coming up to the island and was about to crash into a tree. Thinking quickly Sonic opened up the umbrella and the wind picked him up as the plane crashed into the tree. The turbulence from the rush caused a huge amount of sea water to splash on top of the biplane. The flames died down to small flicker. Sonic floated down toward the island safely with the black umbrella extended.

"Hey everybody look! I'm Mary Poppins!" Sonic shouted as he landed on the beach. "Heh, Heh, well that was fun." Sonic said. The huge eruption of a loud horn startled him and caused him to fall. Suddenly hundreds of people came out of nowhere and started to trample over Sonic to gather around the beach.

"Everyone get in the correct order! Commander Smoke Stack is here!" Shouted a bear who was wearing a black suit and a top hat. All the people scrambled to get in order, unknowingly stomping on the poor hedgehog's body while they did it. Soon they were all lined up into two halves. They made a walkway on the beach so that someone could get through. The huge horn honked again and then, out of nowhere pops out a huge submarine. The people flinched. Sonic couldn't react to what was happening because his face was in the sand. The sub docked on the beach and opened up. Out came a man with spiked white hair, a gray jacket, blue jeans, a green sweater (Which is weird since it is over 80 degrees outside), and brown boots. He appeared to have a small piece of paper in his hand.

"Okay where's the head of this island!" He shouted. The bear in the suit ran up toward him.

"Y-yes Mr. Smoke Stack sir." He asked stuttering a bit. The man shoved the piece of paper in his face.

"Read this!" He demanded. The bear took the paper from the man's greasy gloved hand and began reading.

"It says that _'over the past month Westside Island's record sales have gone down. It appears that the head of the island has neglected to give his share of profit to the council of SmokeStack headquarters.' _But sir I've tried to give you the share of profit but being on an island I just couldn't get through." The bear said obviously lying by the way his voice sounded.

"Or maybe you found away to get it through but you have deliberately sent the profit to the wrong person." Smoke Stack suggested.

"Oh please! I suppose you don't have any proof." The bear sneered. The crowd couldn't believe he said something like that to Commander Smoke. Smoke however didn't reply to his comment. Instead he snapped his fingers. A huge crate came out of the submarine and fell on the beach. Sonic was off the ground now and was hiding behind a tree as not to be seen. He watched as Smoke (Short for SmokeStack) gave the crate a small tap. The crate then thrust open and broke apart. Everyone was now staring at a huge pile of gold coins, rubies, diamonds, and other treasures.

"Is that proof enough." Smoke said in a calm voice. The bear was astonished, as was the crowd.

"So what! You still don't half any proof it was me who smuggled it to Central City." The bear said then covered his mouth, realizing what he said.

"I never said it was put in Central City. How'd you know if you didn't do it?" He asked still looking very calm.

"Well…I…" The bear was at a loss of words.

"I also found a note hidden on the crate that stated the money was to be sponsored for Westside island, not the smoke stack company. On the note the were the initials B.M written on it." Smoke finished. Sonic chuckled when he heard him say B.M but decided to keep quiet. "You're the only one here on the island that has the initials B.M, Bear Crater Mayer." Smoke said the bears' full name out loud. The crowd gasped.

"This is getting good." Sonic murmured.

"What's wrong Mayer? You look kind of scared. Well you should be. Sending you money to anywhere except my company is completely off limits. I bet you used your initials for fear that I would find out huh?" Said Smoke.

"…Hahahahahahaha! Nope. I did that because I didn't want them to know who I am, not you." Said the bear. Smoke's eyes widened a bit.

"Who exactly is them?" He asked.

"I'm not telling you. All I'm saying is that there was no reason to prove my existence

to them because I'm much better then them all anyway." The bear lied again. Smoke reached his gloved hand out to his neck, grabbed it, and picked him up.

"Where do you get the gull! You are right about one thing though. There isn't any reason to prove you exist because pretty soon you won't." Smoke clenched his fist tightly which choked the bear.

"…If…you kill me…smoke…your company goes down the tub." The bear said.

"I don't know what you're talking about. But then again I don't care." Smoke said squeezing harder.

"…The fox…the one with two tails…is still alive." The bear choked out. Smoke's eyes widened to the limit.

"What!" Smoke now understood what the bear meant. His company would be completely destroyed if that fox kid was still alive. Did he pretend to be afraid of him so he could frame him? Smoke wasn't about to let him live now.

" Now what Smoke Stack? If you kill me it wouldn't make any difference." The bear said calmly.

"You may have the power to detect any mortal's energy with that metal eye…but that's all you have special about you." Smoke said as a thick gray smog appeared out of nowhere and rapped around the bear. The smog started to fly in the bears' ears, mouth, and nose. "This smoke will clog up your lungs so badly they will literally explode inside you. When that happened their will be a big gapping hole in your stomach. That's what you get for messing with me." Smoke said still sounding calm and non-threatening.

"You monster! No you can't!" the bear shouted. The crowd didn't know what they were talking about but knew it was something bad after Smoke said that thing about his lungs exploding. Sonic couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"I've gotta help that guy." Sonic whispered.

"Stay where you are hedgehog!" Smoke shouted in Sonic's direction. Sonic stopped in his tracks.

"…_H-how did he…?"_ Sonic was stunned. He soon heard the sound of blood splattering in the air. Sonic looked on and saw Smoke holding an almost dead bear with blood pouring out of his stomach.

"…Never thought…you'd end up…killing me…after all we've been through…" The bear's body went limp and he died. Sonic stepped out in the open.

"I don't know what just happened but I now you killed that man and that's good enough for me." Sonic said.

"If you value you your life…it would be wise not to tangle with me." Smoke said.

"Ha, do you know who I am?" Sonic asked.

"Sonic the Hedgehog, age 11, 3 ft and 3 inches tall, 77 pounds, known as the Blue Blur across all of Mobius, and is the famous hero who has defeated Dr. Ivo Eggman/ Robotnik over 100 times." Smoke said.

"Damn, you know all that! Uh, I mean, so what. I'm still going to defeat you though." Sonic said running forward. Smoke stood there and watched the hedgehog foolishly attack. Sonic jumped and disappeared in front of Smoke's face. He still didn't do anything however.

"What a neat trick." Smoke mumbled. Sonic appeared to be jumping all around his body but was still nowhere to be seen. He soon decided to attack. He stopped behind Smoke and attacked his back. Smoke merely turned and positioned his arm so it would be in front of Sonic. Sonic's stomach ended up colliding with his huge arm. Smoke then flung his arm out which sent Sonic flying into the sea. Sonic all of a sudden jumped out of the water and ran toward Smoke.

"It's a good thing that water was shallow." Sonic said as he did the homing attack at Smoke's head. Sonic was about to hit his head but he suddenly stopped and was floating in mid air. He looked at his body and saw that he was covered in a cloud of smoke.

"What's happening?" Sonic asked as the cloud took him higher in the air.

"That cloud of smog will take you above the clouds that are already in the sky then it will literally squeeze the life out of you." Smoke explained as Sonic disappeared as he flew higher and higher into the clear blue sky (Their was really only one or two visible clouds anyway). He then turned to the scared crowd of people. "When you see blood rain from the sky you'll know he's dead. Now tell me…WHERE IS THE ONE KNOWN AS MILES PROWER!" He shouted.

_In the sky_

Rouge had always wondered why Gel was such a hardheaded lizard. To think they used to be boyfriend and girlfriend. She pondered why he was at a place like this when she heard the sound of struggling. She looked forward and saw a blue hedgehog stuck inside a cloud, struggling for his life.

"Hey Sonic!" Rouge shouted to him. She hovered up to him and smiled.

"Hey there…could you get me out of here…please." Sonic struggled as the cloud got tighter. "Wait how'd you know my name?" he asked getting of topic.

"Everyone knows who you are. I'd be happy to help you if you have any jewels on you." Rouge said.

"No…I don't…but…there are…some jewels down there…on the beach…you can take as much as you want." Sonic said.

"Okay sure." Rouge said drawing back her foot. "This may hurt your back though." She warned as she slammed a huge kick on top of the cloud. The cloud disappeared and she ended up kicking Sonic in the back. The force was so strong it sent him crashing into the ground.

"Thank you Rouge!" Sonic said before he crashed headfirst into the beach. This scared the hell out of everyone there.

"Your welcome…wait a minute…how'd he know MY name?" She asked heading toward the beach. Her eyes widened as she saw a pile of gold coins and priceless gems…being hauled into a truck that said Gel's Diamond Shop.

"Get all this money to my shop quickly." Gel said as the two men pushed the huge pile of money into the back of the truck. They truck appeared out of nowhere after a certain jaguar led SmokeStack to the area Tails usually hung out. Gel called his men using a walkie-talkie as soon as he saw SmokeStack dump the money and gems on the beach. It drove up and Gel and his men began hauling the stuff inside his truck. The truck drove away leaving a dead body of a bear and an unconscious hedgehog on the ground. The crowd stared at the hedgehog's body and realized they were in the presence of the legendary blue hedgehog Sonic. Everyone ran home to get their autograph books.

"Well the hedgehog did say I could have the gems. I guess ill have to pull off a job tonight. Never thought I'd end up robbing Gel, that's for sure." Rouge said flying off.

_In the forest_

Hang Nail led the scary looking man toward Miles' grass area. He found out where it was by simply following the fox there. That was the farthest thing away from his mind however.

'_Who is this dude and why does he want to see a loser like Two Tail? It's not like that kid is important to anyone or anything. But if that's true then why does he want to see him so badly?' _Hang Nail thought then remembered the talk between the bear and SmokeStack.

_Flashback _

"…The fox…the one with two tails…is still alive." The bear choked out. Smoke's eyes widened to the limit.

"What!" Smoke shouted.

_End Flashback_

'I can tell by the way they spoke that he didn't want Miles dead because he stole his hamburger.'

"Kid." Smoke said suddenly, which startled the jaguar. "How much longer must we walk." Smoke asked.

"…Uh…we're coming up on it now." Hang Nail led Smoke to the grass patch. Hang Nail ran to the spot where they last left Miles. He walked up to the area and saw…a huge blue cat with a frog lying on his chest.

"Who the hell are you?" Hang Nail yelled at the cat.

"I'm Big the Cat and this is Froggy." Big said pointing to the frog on his chest.

"Is this some kind of joke." Smoke said walking up behind Hang Nail. Hang Nail freaked out. He saw what Smoke did to Bear Mayor. He even took on Sonic, the hero of Mobius.

"No! It's not! I beat him up and left him here. Honest." Hang Nail said.

"Then where is he?" Smoke asked raising his voice. "You! Cat! Did you see a fox here earlier?" SmokeStack asked to him. Big, who had his eyes shut, opened one eye and pointed in the direction across from him. SmokeStack jumped over Big and Froggy and ran into the forest. Hang Nail followed behind.

_Back in the forest_

Miles limped toward town. He was planning on stealing some ice from the restaurant to help heal his wounds. He was left unconscious there for a while until he was woken up by a big blue cat. Miles ran off when he saw the cat for fear he'd be beaten up again. Miles limped on until he heard loud clomping footsteps. He thought it was someone coming after him so he ducked behind some bushes. SmokeStack ran by the bushes then stopped.

'_W-who is that?'_ Miles asked in his head. SmokeStack took a few steps back until he was standing directly beside the bush Miles was hiding behind. _'Whoever he is, he probably isn't nice.'_ Miles thought. Smoke stared at the bushes hard. Miles knew that he was there and his fear was so intense that Miles could've died right there. Smoke punched through the bushes and nearly hit Miles' head. Miles freaked out but knew that he had to keep quiet. Hang Nail ran up behind him and tapped Smoke's shoulder. Smoke moved his eyes aside to see Hang Nail but that seemed to be enough time for Miles to get up and go.

Miles ran as fast as he could even thought the pain was unbearable. He kept running until he thought it was safe. He stopped and decided to climb into a tree as to not be seen. He climbed up and felt a huge jolt of pain as he did so. Once he was in the tree he looked down to see if anyone was there. He soon saw Smoke and Hang Nail walk past the tree and toward the beach. Miles sighed and tried to climb out of the tree. He wiggled his foot around to see if it would touch a branch but sadly it was not to be. Miles fell out of the tree and hit the ground hard.

"Ohh. That hurt." Miles got up and looked in the direction Smoke and Hang Nail was heading. That was when he remembered the ice. Miles ran off toward town again.

_On the beach_

"That's it! I've had it with this place. I'm going back to my company's main building to count my money." Smoke said walking back to the submarine completely ignoring the fact that he had just walked past an unconscious blue hedgehog that he thought was dead.

"So you're just giving up. Just like that!" Hang Nail shouted walking behind him. Slips and Silt trailed behind Hang Nail wondering if they could get tipped off about what just happened.

"No I'm not giving up! My visits don't usually last this long. I need to get back to my company. Scrap the bear's body up and make sure you collect the money for my next visit. If you don't you all will end up like him. Oh and the fox was hiding in one of the trees back in the forest. I don't care what you do to him as long as he is dead by the time I return. If he's not I'll do it myself." Smoke said walking into the submarine and closing the hatch door. The submarine disappeared as it dived into the ocean, leaving the 3 kids confused. They stood there and stared at the sea and didn't seem to notice the silver liquid come out of the ocean and make it's way toward the forest. There it transformed back into its metal form.

"The hedgehog is still alive? I must report to Eggman." The metal figure had noticed Sonic lying there on the beach and immediately ran off to tell his master.

"So what now Hang Nail?" Slips asked.

"We go eat." Hang Nail said as they walked off.

"Ah man…that hurt…where am I. Sonic asked lifting his head up. Suddenly many, many animals with their autograph books surrounded him. The people all held out their autograph books and pens to his face.

'_This is just the kind of crap I wanted to get away from.'_ Sonic thought.

_Chapter 2 complete. If you are confused about what Smoke and Bear Mayor was talking about, that's good! It makes it more enjoyable when you finally find out. Review please. I'll update again soon._


	3. Chapter 3

_Hello my faithful readers. Here is the chapter where Sonic and Tails meet. Hope you enjoy it. If you don't like it, tell me in your revie_w.

**Chapter 2: Two tail and the Blue Blur**

Miles walked hesitantly up to the restaurant. He was careful not to be seen as he did this. He hopped out of the forest and snuck onto the road. He then quickly dashed to the other side and hid behind a trashcan that was located next to the restaurant. Miles looked around to see if anyone was watching. The only people he saw were two rich looking tourists walking up to the stairs. One was a male rat with a black tuxedo on and a clearly fake mustache. The other was a female rat next to him with a pink dress on and a more clearly fake wig on. Miles giggled a little but forced himself to stop for fear he would be heard. The rats walked past Miles and up the stairs.

"After you my lady." The male rat said that statement in a kind British accent and than opened the door for her. Miles thought his voice was even funnier then his attire so he let out a slightly loud chuckle. Fortunately for him they didn't hear it.

"Oh you." The woman said in an equally kind British accent. Miles thought her voice was weird as soon as she said it. It didn't seem as real as the man's voice. Miles shrugged and thought nothing of it. He saw the two go into the restaurant soon after. Miles thought those two were obviously rich and that he could probably make a few bucks off them. He chuckled again before running up the stairs and into the restaurant. As soon as he walked through the door he remembered the reason he came here in the first place. Miles looked at the counter and decided to get the ice before he got the money. Quietly, he snuck up to the counter and tried to jump. He didn't succeed to make it over so he tried again. It was another failed attempt.

'_This would be a lot easier if I could fly.'_ He pouted. He recently discovered that if he twisted his tails fast enough he would lift off the ground. However that was the only thing he could accomplish. He would always fly back down toward the ground as soon as he got a few centimeters off of it. He tried flying many times but the attempts always ended in the same result. Miles gave it another jump and he succeeded to grab the ledge of the counter. He pulled himself up and over to the other side of the counter. Many people in the restaurant saw him do this but didn't process it as a problem.

"Okay, now where's the ice?" Miles asked looking around the area he was in. He proceeded to run in the kitchen full of hard working chefs. He ran past them while not making a peep. Soon he was in the freezer area. Miles walked up to the door that said 'Freezer. Off limits to costumers' and pushed it open. He walked in the cold environment. He stopped for a second and looked around for the ice. His eyes soon locked on a huge bag on the floor filled with ice. Miles smiled and skipped over the bag and tried to pick it up. He put both arms underneath and began to lift but couldn't get it off the ground. After about 5 seconds he dropped the bag on the floor and deduced that he wasn't strong enough to lift it.

"This is perfect. Now how am ice going to get my ice." Miles thought for a second and decided he didn't need all of it. He pierced his teeth through the package and opened it. Small blocks of ice began to fall on the floor. Miles then noticed a frosty sticky note on the side of the package that said 'ice' written on it. Miles wondered why the owner would need to label something that could easily be deciphered without putting a label on it but then thought it could be a good tool to hold the ice on his skin. He peeled the sticky note off and rapped it around a few small pieces of ice. He then placed it on the area that was bruised. After he was done with that part of his body he then proceeded to do the next one. It took him a few minutes but he finally was satisfied with how he felt. He soon exited the freezer and made his way back to the entrance of the restaurant. After jumping over the counter again he decided to find those British people.

"Did we have to come here honey, this place is so…foreign." The female rat complained.

"Don't worry madam. This hovel may be disgustingly gross but it is said to be one of the best places to look for food on Mobius. We shall give it a try and if you are not satisfied, we'll sue the owner." Stated the rat.

"Yay!" She shouted in a delighted voice. That was when she noticed someone was at the end of the table. She was about to declare it the waiter but when she looked over she saw a dirty fox holding his palms out in a cup formation. She stared for a second then noticed he was trying to demand for money.

"Shoo! Go away I say!" said the male rat.

"Oh honey, he looks so cute. Just give him a simple 50 bucks. That's all." The female said.

"A fifty?" boasted the male rat.

"Hello, we're rich. Just part with the fifty and be done with it."

"You don't understand. It's my money. If I give him some than I have less."

"Never thought of it that way. But still, give him at least a five." She pleaded. The male rat reached in his wallet and pulled out a five. She took it from him and was about to give the bill to the most needy fox but than noticed something. "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

"What is it wife?" the male rat sounded concerned.

"The fox! He has a second tail!" The woman shouted. The whole restaurant perked up when they heard that. Miles' sweat dropped.

'_Uh oh!'_ Miles thought. He soon began to panic when he saw the owner come out of the kitchen with a frying pan.

"Did I here someone say a fox was in here with two tails!" The owner shouted. Everyone pointed to Miles. The owner ran up to him with the pan in hand. "I thought I told you the last time, No freaks allowed!" He shouted slamming the frying pan toward Miles' head. Miles quickly jumped on top of the male rat's head and from there jumped over the owner's head. The owner saw the fox heading for the door and quickly ran in front of the entrance. Miles turned around when he saw his only way out was blocked and ran toward the counter. He did a huge forceful jump and grabbed on the ledge again. Miles climbed over to the other side before the frying pan could connect with his body again. The owner jumped over the counter with one jump and proceeded to chase him.

" I say, what a horrible person." The male rat said referring to Miles. He picked up the menu to begin reading but noticed his wife was looking at him strange. "What the devil are you staring at?"

"You're mustache…it fell off when the fox jumped on your head." The female said. The male rat looked down on the table and saw his mustache lying there.

"Uh oh." The male rat said worried.

"You lied to me." The woman said angrily.

"Well…"

"After all this time, I thought I could trust you to tell me your secrets!"

"Oh yeah, well how come you couldn't tell me yours?" The male rat reached over and pulled off the woman's wig, revealing a semi balled head. The whole restaurant had their attention on the couple now.

"How dare you! Why would a so-called civilized British man steal a woman's hair! Where do you get the nerve!" She yelled in a loud American voice.

"…………I've got a better question for you. WHERE THE HELL DID YOUR ACCENT GO!" The male rat noticed that she was speaking the new English instead of the old.

"Okay I lied about being British! I'm from Station Square! So what!"

"You bitch!" The male rat stood up from his seat. The female pushed him over the edge of the seat and he fell on the floor. As soon as he hit the ground he rammed into the leg of someone else's chair and it slid across the floor and fell on top of him. The man in that seat was drinking something at the time and when he fell over it spilled on his shirt. The man looked at his soaked shirt and grabbed the rat by his collar.

"That shirt cost me twenty bucks!" shouted the angry costumer.

"Get a job!" The rat yelled back. The man punched the rat across two tables and fell on the third table that was occupied with six people. The food he landed in splattered all over them.

"Hey!" they all yelled unison.

_Meanwhile_

Miles had ducked the mighty swing of the frying pan many times and he was starting to get tired. Soon he ran back toward the entrance and jumped to the ledge of the counter again. However, when Miles climbed on top he was hit over the head with the pan and he fell to the floor with a loud plop. Miles scrambled to his feet and ran out the door.

"And don't come back!" shouted the owner. He then turned to look at his customers and saw that they were all fighting each other. "Uh oh." He said as he watched people throw food and land punches at one another.

_Outside the restaurant_

"Boy am I hungry! I can't believe there were that many people who wanted my autograph. I'm just glad it's over." Sonic said walking up the forest hill. When he reached the road he saw something heading straight for him. Sonic quickly moved out of the way when he saw it coming after him. A two-tailed fox ran right past him and into the forest. Sonic walked from behind the tree he was hiding behind and looked in the direction the fox was running. "W-was that a fox…with two tails? COOL!" Sonic said clearly amazed. He was about to follow the fox when his stomach made a forceful growl. He decided to get the food first than catch up with him. With that he ran into the restaurant.

"Time for me to eat until my stomach's…" Sonic started before he was pelted with a piece of orange goop. Sonic stood there wondering what the hell just happened when he heard the sound of fighting and glass breaking. Sonic wiped the food off of his face and saw people running around the restaurant trying to hurt each other. "What the?" Sonic looked up at the counter and saw the owner. He wondered why he would let something this crazy happen in his own restaurant. He quickly ran toward the counter and had a seat on a rotating stool. "Hey buddy, what's with all the flying food and wild people?" Sonic asked as he watched them all fight.

"Oh I don't know. At first they were quiet and well mannered. Then I go in the kitchen for a few minutes and when I come out they're all fighting." The owner explained clearly stressed out. That was when Sonic got an idea.

"Hey, I could make them stop for you." Sonic said smiling.

"You can! How?"

"Well it won't be easy or cheap either." Sonic said with a smug look on his face. The owner didn't like that smile. He was wondering if the hedgehog was planning on getting a huge amount of cash that he didn't have.

"W-what do you want?" He asked hoping it'd be something cheap.

"…A chili dog."

"What?"

"You heard me. I want a free chili dog with cheese, ketchup, mustard, and a mountain of chili!" Sonic demanded. The owner stared at him weirdly then chuckled.

"Ha Ha! Okay, you got it, one chili dog on the house." The owner said. Sonic smiled knowing that would work. He stood up on the stool and whistled loudly with his fingers.

"Hey look everybody, it's me, Sonic the Hedgehog!" He shouted while waving his hands around. The owner gasped when he heard that name. Everyone soon stopped to look. They were all staring at the blue hedgehog with their now wide eyes.

"A-are you really Sonic the Hedgehog?" The owner asked in shock.

"Sure am." Sonic said. It was only seconds later before everyone ran up to him screaming and asking for his autograph. Sonic's sweat dropped. "Well at least the chili dog is free." He stated while putting a worried smile on his face.

_1 hour later_

Sonic kept flexing his arm while walking down the hill with the chilidog in the other hand. He signed autographs for an hour and his writing hand was really, really tried. He started thinking twice about this whole hero thing. There was so much everyone expected him to do. It was getting a little old. Once it was free rentals day at the video store and it ended at 4:00. Sonic knew he could make it because he was in fact the fastest thing alive. However when he ran past a little girl crying on the sidewalk he ran back toward her and asked what was wrong. She stated that he cat was stuck in a tree. Sonic thought that was the oldest and most played out problem ever. But being the soft guy he was he rescued the cat. By the time he got the cat out it was too late. Sonic left the house at 3:58 because of the excitement of not making it in time but just barely getting into the store. Plus he loved to piss off the store manager when he was about to close at 3:59 and Sonic would always run in and demand a free video rental. Of course those times rarely happen anymore.

"_Sigh' _I wonder if my chilidog will make me feel better." Sonic said sitting on a nearby rock.

_In the tree above him_

Miles sat there sulking. Why did Bear Mayor have to pass that dumb law about having no birth defect? Miles sat and continued to think about the subject when he realized that most people wouldn't even be alive right now if they had two tails. He was one of the lucky ones.

"_I wonder if being dead would be an even better life." _Miles wondered. That was when he felt someone else's presence. Miles looked down and saw a blue hedgehog getting ready to take a bite out of a chilidog. _'Yummy' _Miles thought as he used his tails to latch on to a branch. He quietly and slowly lowered himself above the hedgehog's head. _'That chilidog is going to be mine.'_ Miles saw the hedgehog getting ready to take the huge bite when suddenly he grabbed the chilidog with his extended hand, jumped out the tree, and ran deeper into the forest. Sonic ended up biting his hand, which still hurt a lot even though he had a glove on.

"YEEEEEOOOWWW! What the hell!" Sonic shouted as he waved his hurting hand up and down. Sonic wondered what just happened. He then turned his head to the side and saw a fox with two tails running deep into the forest. "HEY!" Sonic jumped off the rock and ran after him.

"I did it! I got away with the chilidog!" Miles shouted.

"Hey you!" Sonic shouted after him

"Uh oh." Miles knew it was too good to be true. He ran a lot faster in order to try and get away from the hedgehog.

"Get back here you! I signed autographs for an hour to get that chilidog!" Sonic picked up the passé of his feet and increased speed. Sonic never let the sight of the two-tailed fox out of his eyes. They ran through the huge forest, one trying to get away, while the other tried to catch up. Miles soon started to spin his tails while he ran. Eventually Miles was hovering over the ground and going really fast.

"Whoo Hoo! There is no way that hedgehog is fast enough to keep up." Miles said in triumph.

"No way for me to catch up huh?" Sonic shouted to Miles. Miles looked next to him and saw Sonic running backwards by his side. Miles freaked out and turned left. This move completely took Sonic by surprise. He was about to follow Miles' move and go left but by not looking where he was going accidentally rammed into a tree. Sonic looked dazed for a second than quickly remembered he had to catch up. Sonic spun his feet around twice and boomed after him.

"Man he is fast! I better eat this now before he…" Miles started before he saw a familiar blue face run up next to him.

"Before I catch up." Sonic finished Miles' sentence. Miles looked at him awestruck. He didn't get it. How could this hedgehog run so fast?

"You look surprised. Oh did I forget to tell I'm Sonic the Hedgehog." Sonic said while running past Miles.

"Sonic the Hedgehog!" Miles shouted. He stole a chilidog from the Sonic the Hedgehog. He had really done it now. Miles was considering giving the chilidog back but as soon as he was about to stop his stomach bellowed a huge growl at him. Miles' inner organ seemed to convince him enough. He wasn't letting this dog go without a fight. Miles picked up the speed of his tails and he blasted down toward where Sonic was. He soon saw Sonic dodging up coming trees and bushes up ahead. Miles ran up to the speedy hedgehog's side.

"Whoa! You're better than I thought!" Sonic was impressed with this fox's amazing ability to keep up. However Sonic wasn't about to give up. Sonic kept ducking through trees and branches as fast as he could, while Miles tried his best to keep up. That was when the fox got an idea. He jumped up to the truck of the tree then immediately bounced off of it to the next one. This way he didn't have to dodge all of those trees and thus making him go faster. Sonic soon saw the yellow-orange fox jump past him by using the trees.

"See ya Sonic!" Miles mocked as he jumped forward.

"Whoa! This kid already knows the triangle jump. Amazing! Why didn't I think of that?" Sonic jumped on the trunk of the tree and began to triangle jump with Miles. They did this until they ran out of trees. Miles landed on the ground first and continued running with the chilidog still in hand. Sonic landed a few seconds later and continued to run as well. Soon they came toward a the edge of a hill. Miles knew that going down a hill would give him even greater speed so he immediately sprinted for it. As soon as he got to the edge where the hill started to roll downward he jumped over the edge and continued running at an even greater speed. Sonic came up to the hill as well and did the same exact thing Miles did. Sonic somehow was able to use the hill to his advantage the most however. He ended up running a few centimeters past Miles. When Miles saw this he grew even more angry. He than got a sadistic plan in his head. He knew he'd be doing this to Mobius' greatest hero but he had no choice!

"That's it Sonic! I'm really mad now!" Miles ran straight at Sonic's side than stuck his foot out. Sonic really didn't see that move coming. He didn't have time to react to it ether. Sonic tripped over Miles' foot and rolled down the hill until he crashed into a tree. Miles laughed as he ran past Sonic and into the second part of the forest.

"I did it! I beat Sonic the Hedgehog! The chilidog is mi..." WHAM! Miles forgot to look where he was going and ended up ramming into a huge boulder. His body slid off the boulder and he fell on the ground. After that ordeal, Sonic got up from the area he was at and ran after the fox.

"What a cheap trick!" Sonic shouted as he trailed after the fox. He kept running straight hoping he would catch up to him when he saw an upcoming boulder. Sonic skidded to a stop and decided he moved left. before Sonic could run however he noticed something was splattered all over the boulder. He walked up to it and, without knowing it, stepped on someone. He looked down and saw the fox lying on the ground. Sonic immediately thought it was blood that was splattered on the huge rock. He soon examined it closer and found it was the chilidog. "Aww man! I can't believe it. My chilidog's gone." He whined than looked down at the fox. Sonic bent down and felt his face. "Yup, he's out cold alright." Sonic said than sighed. That was when he noticed the fox's nose start to bleed. "Uh oh! Better get you some help!" Sonic picked the body up and raced off.

_Meanwhile in the Egg Fortress _

"You fool! Sonic's plane was destroyed but Sonic wasn't1" Dr.Eggman shouted at his metal creation.

"Wow. even I don't stink as bad as you buddy!' Bokkun shouted at the robot.

"You have one more chance to prove yourself! If you don't get it right this time! There will be dyer consequences." Eggman warned. "Do I make myself clear?" Eggman asked.

"..." The metal figure didn't answer.

"I said do I make myself clear!" Eggman shouted again.

"...Yes doctor."

"Good, the invasion is in 2 days. You'd better get your act together by than. Now leave!" Eggman demanded. The metal creation turned and left.

"For one of your most unique creations, he's not doing so hot as for following orders is he?" Bokkun asked. Eggman said nothing. "Uh doctor?" Bokkun tried to get his attention.

"Forget him Bokkun. Come on we've got plans to complete." Eggman turned to his computer and began typing.

_Back at the beach_

Miles woke up completely dazed and confused. He looked up at the night sky and saw the moon shining down on him. Miles wondered why it was morning a minute ago but it was night time all of a sudden. He lifted his head up and looked around. He was in the cockpit of a black biplane. It didn't look like it was painted black. It looked more like it was set on fire. Miles pondered this for a second than noticed the tissue up his left nostril. He reached for it in order to pull it out.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Sonic said startling the hell out of Miles. Miles looked at the hedgehog in pure disbelief. "Aren't you going to say thank you?" Sonic asked. Miles just stared at him.

"Well than could you at least tell me your name?" Sonic asked starting to get impatient. Miles didn't really trust that hedgehog, not for a second. That was when he remembered the incident with the chili dog. Miles did in fact steal the chilidog from him and yet this hedgehog saved him. Miles than decided that he wasn't being fair.

"My name is Miles Prower." Miles than shut his mouth, realizing he said that weird name. It sounded like one of those names rich kids get from their over achieving parents. That was the exact opposite of Miles' situation however. Right now he hoped that hedgehog wouldn't laugh at his name like countless kids have done to him. Sonic stared at the fox in disbelief.

"HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! What kind of a name is that!" Sonic laughed. Miles felt the tears coming. It was again to good to be true. "I'm sorry buddy but that name is just so funny! Not as funny as the name mom was going to give me however." Sonic said. Miles' ears perked up.

"What name was that?" Miles shut his mouth again. He couldn't believe he asked that. The hedgehog was probably going to kill him now. Sonic jumped in the cockpit. Miles flinched.

"Well if you gotta know. She was going to call me Fanny." Sonic said out loud. Miles felt weird when he heard that name. He started to form a crooked smile and he soon started to chuckle. Sonic formed a wide smile as soon as he saw this. Miles tried to hold it in but couldn't. He eventually began bursting into an uproar of laughter. Miles clutched his chest and rolled around the inside of the cockpit in laughter, trying to make himself stop. He just couldn't stop however. After a few minutes of laughter Miles calmed down and sat up to face the hedgehog. His face turned into that of pure fright now.

"Please don't hurt me!" Miles covered his head.

"What?" Sonic asked.

"Please, don't hurt me because I laughed at that name."

"Why would I hurt you because you laughed at that name. It's not even my real name. I think it's funny actually. But I'll stick with Sonic. Boy am I glad she chose that one." Sonic said. Miles took his hands away from his head. This guy was different. Why did he act so nice to him. It was almost as if he actually wasn't going to hurt him. But that can't be. Every person he came in contact with in his life hurt him. Except for that big cat he met earlier in the day however.

"Why aren't you going to beat me up?" Miles asked really wanting to know.

"Why would I?" Sonic asked.

"Because everybody else on this island does." Miles answered. Sonic stared at him with face of confusion. That had to be an exaggeration. He was only a little kid and exaggerations were common for them.

"Are you sure everybody does." sonic asked.

"Yup. Everybody I see on this island either calls me a name, kicks me, throws stuff at me, or beats me up. They have ever since I can remember. Bear Mayor passed a law that said anybody with a birth defect must be killed. I'm one of the lucky ones who lived." Miles explained.

"...WHAT!" Sonic couldn't believe it. Who in the right mind would pass a stupid as hell law like that. "Where exactly is this Bear Mayor?"

"I think he's dead. I heard some guys talking on my way to the restaurant say that some guy named Smoke came to the island and killed him." Miles said.

"Well, I guess he got what was coming to him. So how old are you?" Sonic asked.

"Four."

"FOUR?" No way this kid can't be four. He already knows the triangle jump and how to even keep up with my speed. Plus when he talks you could tell he'd be at least 9 years old. Miles looked at Sonic with a confused look on his face.

"Is there something wrong with being four?" Miles asked in a shaky voice.

"No! So you...uh...want something to eat?" Sonic asked.

"YES, YES, YES, YES, A THOUSAND TIMES YES!" Miles lunged at Sonic and grabbed his furry chest. It took him a minute to realize what he did and he let go of Sonic in embarrassment and a bit worried that Sonic might attack him too. Instead Sonic looked at him strangely.

"Okay, I'll be right back." Sonic zoomed out to the woods, leaving Miles all alone. Miles looked around the cockpit and saw a glove compartment. Miles quickly opened it and saw a wallet. He took it out and saw that it was slightly burnt. He opened it up and saw 2 crumpled up and burnt 20 Mobian dollar bills. Miles thought about taking them and running away since they were still good for use. He reached to grab them then drew back his hand.

'_I can't do that to Sonic. He's the only one who's ever been nice to me. But...' _Miles reached in to grab the money again.

"Hey there!" Sonic shouted. Miles freaked out and quickly hid the money behind his back.

"Whatcha got there?" Sonic asked already knowing.

"Nothing." Miles lied trying to keep the money hidden. Sonic followed the fox's movements until Miles was tricked into turning around for Sonic to see the money. Miles panicked and slowly gave him back the money. Expecting the worse he ducked and covered. After about a minute he looked up to see Sonic sitting there with one eyebrow raised.

"I'm not going to hurt you." Sonic said quietly.

"Y-you're not."

"No. Here take this." Sonic gave him a chilidog. Miles took it and wondered how he got it so fast. In reality all Sonic did was run back to the restaurant, whistle to the owner, than he would get a chilidog, and come back out here. He watched as Miles ate the chilidog extremely fast. "Boy, you eat as if you haven't eaten in days." Sonic said.

"...That's because I haven't." Miles said. Sonic couldn't believe he heard that.

"What?" Sonic asked.

"I said I haven't eaten in days." Miles answered.

"Don't your parents feed you." Sonic asked. That was when Miles started to feel the tears coming.

"_Sniff' _No _'Sniff' _I never knew my parents. I've been living outside forever." Miles started bawling now. Sonic couldn't believe it. This fox had no parents, no home, and no one even likes or has the proper kindness to help him, yet he is still alive. Sonic decided to try and comfort the crying fox.

"Listen buddy. I'm sorry if I..." Sonic began.

"It's not you. It's my life. I wish...I wish..." Miles continued bawling and eventually started crying on Sonic's shoulder. Sonic didn't even attempt to move him away. He Just let the little fox drain out his tears.

_That is it for this chapter! Remember to keep the reviews coming. I like reviews! Will update again soon._


	4. Chapter 4

-1_Thank you all for the reviews. Here is the next chapter of my poor fox story...and one blue hedgehog._

**Chapter 3: Night of the Break In**

"You feeling better yet?" asked Sonic. The poor fox had been crying for at least 10 minutes now. Miles soon stopped and tried to breath but each time he tried he would take in a lot of air and end up coughing. When he was finished Miles turned to Sonic with his now puffy and red eyes.

"Y-yeah. I'm b-better now." Miles tried to speak properly, but couldn't. He knew this would be a big enough signal to Sonic that he wasn't feeling better. Sonic looked at the tear stained tissue in Miles' nose and reached for it. He gently pulled it out of the fox's nostril and threw it in the trashcan below them.

"I don't want to make you cry again...but I was just wondering...how you managed to get by all this time." Sonic asked the fox who was still breathing hard. Miles looked at the blue hedgehog for a moment than sighed loudly. "If you don't want to tell me that's fine..." Sonic started.

"No. It's fine. See I really don't know how I get by. I used to be at an orphanage but they kicked me out when I saw the house keeper lady on top of some guy in here bedroom. I didn't know what they were doing." Miles stopped when he saw a disgusted look on Sonic's face. "Did I say something wrong?" Miles asked.

"...N-no...just keep going." Sonic felt like he was going to throw up. Never the less he made sure to pay attention to Miles' story.

"Anyway, I after I got kicked out I went into the forest and tried to find something to eat. That was when I spotted a sparkling rock in the ground. I picked it up and took it with me. Ever since than I've been beaten up by Hang Nail and his friends and was forced to eat out of garbage cans to live...Sonic are you still listening." Miles asked when he saw the puzzled look on Sonic's face.

"_A sparkling rock?" _Sonic thought than felt a small tug at his arm. He looked down and saw the two tailed fox looking at him with a questionable face. "Hey...um...Miles, what color and shape was this 'rock' you found?" Sonic asked.

"Well, it was purple and it had a weird shape at the top that connected to a sharp point at the bottom." Miles explained.

"The Chaos Emerald!" Sonic shouted. The last time he saw those emeralds they were powering some weird machine called 'The metal' that was created by Eggman. It was a huge tube that seemed to have a metal figure inside that looked almost exactly like a blue hedgehog. It took Sonic a huge amount of strength to take care of that thing. Sonic looked down at Miles and saw that puzzled look again.

"What's a chaos emerald?" Miles asked.

"Where is it?' Sonic asked ignoring the question.

"Uh...Hang Nail took it." Miles confessed.

"The bully?"

"Yeah. He said he was going to take it to some store that sold jruels." Miles had trouble saying that last word.

"You mean jewels." Sonic corrected.

"Right, that was it."

"Where is the jewel shop?"

"I don't know. I probably could've followed Hang Nail to find out but I threw a rock his head and then he beat me up until I fell asleep." Miles stated. Sonic looked a little confused on the last statement.

"You threw a rock at his head?" Sonic asked trying to make sure he heard him correctly.

"Uh huh. He tore up a picture of me and my mom that was found in one of my baby booties." Miles explained.

"You know, you should try sticking up for yourself." Sonic suggested.

"I threw a rock at him." Miles repeated.

"I know but throwing a rock at someone's head from behind isn't sticking up for yourself. You need to learn to buckle down and just say NO!" Sonic shouted the last word with force. Miles looked confused for a second then smiled.

"Do you really think I could be brave enough to stand up to them." Miles asked with a hint of hope in his voice. Sonic gave Miles a thumbs up and winked.

"Sure buddy. Never give up, that's what I always say." Sonic said giving the fox a new found confidence.

"YEAH! never give up!" Miles shouted. Almost immediately after he yawned the biggest yawn Sonic had ever seen a four year old do. Sonic looked up at the sky and deduced it was probably at least 11:00 pm. It was time for this kid to rest.

"You look tired. Maybe you should get some rest." Sonic suggested. Miles frowned when he heard this. He proceeded to stand up and get out of the cockpit.

"What are you doing?" Sonic asked puzzled.

"I'm leaving so I can sleep on the ground. That's where I've always slept." Miles said.

"What are you crazy? I'm not letting you sleep on the ground. Sleep in here. It may be burnt, crusty, and worn out but it is still sort of comfy." Miles' eyes lit up when he heard Sonic say those words. He was actually not getting kicked out of someone else' place, or rather plane, for once. Miles lied back down in the cockpit and yawned again.

"Are you sure I won't be a problem?" Miles asked still worried that he might be troubling the hedgehog.

"No way. You just lay here and sleep." Sonic said. Miles was about to let himself fall asleep when he suddenly shot up with a freaked out expression on his face.

"YOU"RE NOT GOING TO RAPE ME ARE YOU!" Miles shouted.

"WHAT!" Sonic couldn't believe the statement that came out of his mouth.

"Well once when I was traveling the neighborhood, I looked inside someone's window and saw the T.V on. They were talking about something called a rape. They said that people pretend to be nice to you and then when you're asleep they attack your body and..."

"MILES! YOU'RE BEING PARANOID! I'M NOT GOING TO RAPE YOU! THAT'S JUST SICK!" Sonic shouted at him completely horrified at the fact a four year old would worry about a topic such as rape. Miles sat there for a while and thought.

"...I'm sorry Sonic...It's just that...no ones ever been nice to me before. I guess I'm just trying to be careful. Too careful." Miles admitted. Sonic's freaked out expression turned kind again and he sighed at his own frustration.

'_This kid is really screwed up in the head. Sure hope their is something I can do.' _

Sonic thought as he looked at the clearly ashamed fox. Deep down Miles knew Sonic wasn't going to rape him. It's just the attitude Sonic was giving him was so kind and gentle. It was so new to him that Miles was worried that there had to be something wrong. He suggested rape as one of the things that could be wrong with this hedgehog. But something in his heart told him that Sonic was being nice and actually meaning it.

"Look, lets forget this ever happened. Just go to sleep, get some rest, and we'll talk later in the morning." Sonic suggested. Miles slowly nodded and lied his head back on the seat of the cockpit.

'_Well, if he really is being this kind and meaning it than I have to make sure I treat him the same way.' _Miles thought. "Hey Sonic, I'm really sorry I was mean to you when we first met." Miles apologized.

"That's okay." Sonic said forgiving him. He was still a little taken back by the rape accusation but decided it would be best to never bring the subject up again. "Good night Miles...UGGH!" Sonic shouted. Miles flinched when he saw Sonic shout.

"What's wrong?" Miles asked looking scared. Maybe he did something wrong.

"It's...that name...I can't keep saying that over and over again. You need a nickname." Sonic said. Miles frowned again and whimpered.

"I'm sorry I said that about your name buddy, it's just that..."

"No...I don't like that name ether...but I hate the nickname Homeless Two Tail even worse."

"Who calls you that?" Sonic asked before even giving it a first thought.

"Hang Nail does. I hate it." Miles said in frustration. Sonic started to think. He needed to give this kid a name that suited who he was, just like Sonic's name suited who he was. He thought and thought until he was about ready to give up. Sonic then looked at Miles' tails and got an idea. He sure hoped it wouldn't offend the poor kid.

"I think I have a good name." Sonic said.

"You do! What is it?' Miles asked completely excited. Sonic stood up and put his hands on his hips.

"From now on I shall call you Tails." Sonic said proudly. Miles thought for a second than put a huge cheek to cheek smile on his face. "Do you like it?" Sonic asked before Miles jumped up and pulled Sonic into a bear hug.

"YES YES YES! I love it! Thanks Sonic!" He shouted. Sonic showed no signs of resistance. He let the little fox have his moment and as soon as it was over he put his head back down on the seat. Miles, or rather Tails, was completely ecstatic about his new name. He just couldn't wait for tomorrow to begin.

"Now I can say this...Good night...Tails." Sonic said. Tails yawned again then slowly let himself drift to sleep. Sonic stared at the sleeping fox for a while. He was so young yet so miserable. What kind of heartless person would kill someone over a stupid reason like a birth defect. Sonic was about to join the fox in slumber land when he heard someone step on a branch in the woods. Sonic turned his attention toward the direction he heard the noise. Being the curious hedgehog he was he decided to check it out. Sonic jumped out of the cockpit and began to walk into the forest.

"Hello. Anyone there?" Sonic asked as he continued to walk.

"Hello Mr. Sonic the Hedgehog. I've been expecting you." said a dry crusty voice.

"Really?" Sonic asked.

"Yes. I am in need of your services." said the hidden voice.

"Is that so. Well why don't you come from behind that bush so we can talk face to face." Sonic suggested.

"What...I ...I'm not in a bush? I'm a mysterious...and uh...scary voice from nowhere. Fear me." said the dry voice again. Sonic walked over to the bush and moved the leaves aside. There he saw a lizard speaking into a birthday party cone hat. The lizard quickly noticed the hedgehog there and began speaking into the hat again out of fear. "Um...don't pay any attention to the man behind the bush." said the lizard. Sonic grabbed the party hat and flexed the string over the lizard's head then let go. The hat snapped painfully against the lizard's mouth.

"Mysterious and scary voice my ass." Sonic snickered. The lizard pouted and took the hat off of his mouth.

"Listen...I'm a little embarrassed right now so I'll just cut to the chase." The lizard spoke.

"That would be most wise." Sonic stated.

"Well, My name is Jell. I'm the owner of a jewelry store in town that needs guarding from a white bat named Rouge. I think she might be out to steal a purple emerald she said had mystical powers or something." Jell explained.

"Sorry buddy but I'm on vacation. Maybe some other...did you say jewelry store...and chaos emerald?" Sonic asked.

"Yes I said jewelry store but I never said the word chaos emerald...although that could've been what Rouge said to me it was called earlier. I wasn't really listening.

"You've got yourself a deal." Sonic boosted.

"Wonderful! Right this way please." Jell pointed Sonic to a dark path leading to town. Sonic looked up in the sky and felt a tear drop hit his face. The night sky made it hard for Sonic to see any clouds but he knew they were there. "Uh mister hedgehog. Are you coming?" Jell asked. Sonic looked at Jell who was a couple of feet away from him. Sonic quickly picked up his feet and ran toward him. Hopefully it was a chaos emerald he was talking about.

_Later that night_

Dr. Eggman worked alone in the work room. He stayed up all night on a regular basis just to draw out his plans. Eggman however was building the rest of the millions of robots he had ready for the assault on Westside Island. He had the rest of tonight and all of tomorrow to complete these robots. He wasn't about to attack that island being even one robot shorter than the required amount he wanted to have. Eggman closed up the chasse of the robot and wiped the beads of sweat that were forming on his forehead.

"Now just a few more robots to go." Eggman stated. He reached for his wrench when all of a sudden he felt some strange energy. That was when a black vortex opened up behind him. Eggman turned and saw the vortex penetrating the steel metal floor and immediately knew who was here. A figure wearing a black robe on with a hood over his head arose out of the vortex. Eggman stared hard at the figure, not in shock but in frustration. "Well, well, if it isn't Darkness. What are you doing here Darkness! I thought our deal was closed." Eggman yelled.

"Yes, I too thought the same thing at first. However I've come baring news for you Eggman." Darkness said pointing his finger at him.

"Great just what I need right now, A warning from the spirit world." Eggman complained.

"I've come to tell you that Bear Mayor has recently been killed by SmokeStack."

"What?"

"I've also brought news to you that the fox is old enough for the 'Fate Rising' to begin."

"I thought as much. That's why I scheduled the invasion to be the day after tomorrow at 9:00 am sharp."

"Very good. I'm impressed with you Eggman."

"Well my IQ is at 300."

"When the invasion starts the fox's true power as a legendary Kitsune shall be revealed."

"Ha ha ha! Whatever. I'm just glad I get to destroy stuff. With this new silver metal I put on my robots it will take Sonic over 10 hits to make a dent in them."

"I see. Prepare your army Eggman, for the true test of strength will begin in 2 days." Darkness said while seeping back into the vortex. Eggman stared at the area for a while as the vortex disappeared. Than he continued to work.

"It's too bad that happened to Bear Mayor...He was one of my favorite part machine mortals to ever be on my side." Eggman said referring to the metal eye Bear Mayor had.

_Meanwhile at the jewelry store_

"Now you stay in here and watch that emerald okay." Jell said leaving the big empty room that was occupied only with Sonic and the chaos emerald. It was sitting in a glass case on a pedestal that was in the exact center of the room.

"Okay." Sonic answered swiftly. Jell soon closed the door to the huge room leaving Sonic alone. Sonic stood there for a few minutes until he was sure the lizard was gone. "Screw that! This emerald comes with me!" Sonic yelled directly at the door. Sonic turned to the pedestal and instead of an emerald there lied an empty glass case. "What the...How the...When did..." Sonic started.

"You who!" Yelled a voice from above. Sonic looked up and saw a white bat holding the emerald in her hand. Sonic didn't say anything. Instead he jumped off the floor and headed straight for her. The bat was surprised by the response so she quickly tuned to fly out the open hatch door to the roof. However she wasn't quick enough. Sonic grabbed her boot leg and ended up flying out the store with the bat.

"Give me that emerald!" Sonic demanded. Rouge shook her leg back and forth and eventually Sonic slid off. Thinking quickly Sonic positioned himself so he would land on the roof top unharmed. Soon a huge thunderous blast came out of the sky and surprised both of them. Rouge accidentally dropped the emerald because the after shock to her ears that the thunder inflicted. Thinking quickly she swooped down to the roof and landed in front of the emerald. Sonic raced forward as soon as she picked it up and he grabbed at it too. Soon they were both holding the emerald with a fierce look in both their eyes.

"Before we continue hedgehog, I've got a question. When we met in the sky, how exactly is it that you knew who I was?" Rouge asked while tightening her grip.

"I read the paper when I'm bored and always find the name of a certain world famous white bat in many articles. Their was a description of what she looked like and when I saw you, well you can probably guess the rest." Sonic explained while also tightening his grip. Another thunderous blast took place before it began to rain.

"An assertive hedgehog, I like that." Rouge stated then unexpectedly kicked Sonic in the stomach. Sonic quickly did a back flip and landed on his feet. As soon as he was back on the ground he sprinted directly at her.

"I'm against hitting woman just so you know." Sonic raced forward than disappeared.

"What! Where'd he go?" Rouge asked looking around the building.

"Up here!" Sonic shouted. Rouge turned her attention upward. Sonic immediately did a swirl dive down toward her. She quickly moved out of the way and let Sonic crash into the roof.

"I thought you said you didn't hit woman." Rouge said amazed at Sonic's incredible speed.

"Who said I was trying to hit ya." Sonic sneered back. He knew he had to try and get that emerald without harming her. That is when he formed a plan.

"Well it's gonna be pretty tough for you to get your emerald without hitting. Let's just see who comes out on top." Rouge spread out her long wings and took flight. Sonic looked up at her wondering what she was planning on doing.

"What's this?" He asked.

"Here's a move I like to call the SPINNING BAT DRILL!" She shouted as she started to spin rapidly in the air. Sonic stared at her for a second wondering what that was going to accomplish. Suddenly white moon crest shaped energy shot down at Sonic. He quickly dodged and let the energy collided with the roof top.

"Whoa, that was...AHH!" Sonic jumped out of the way of three more. He looked up and saw multiple energy blast coming at him. Sonic turned to run as soon as he saw them coming. Multiple rays of energy collided with the roof but Sonic's speed made it impossible for them to hit him. After a few minutes of spinning, Rouge quickly stopped and flew to land a punch at Sonic's turned back. Ultimately this did the trick. Sonic fell on his stomach while Rouge hovered over him.

"Give up yet?" Rouge asked while landing in front of him. Sonic just snickered. It was time to put his plan into action. Rouge growled at him when she heard this. "What's so funny?" Rouge asked as thunder struck and the rain continued to fall.

"You may be a great flyer..." Sonic all of a sudden disappeared again. Rouge immediately looked up in the air, thinking that he were there. She saw no one. That's when she noticed she was being surrounded by blue wind. "...But can you catch the wind?" Sonic finished his statement. The wind soon began to pick up speed. Rouge tried her best to remain on the ground but the force was to strong. She was soon flung straight up in the air and unwilling dropped the emerald. The emerald fell in the still open hatch door and down toward the pedestal. Before Sonic could go after it a green hand caught the gem as it neared the ground.

"Thanks for protecting the emerald Sonic. Your services are no longer required." Jell laughed as he ran toward the door. Sonic thought about going after him but decided against it. If he did Jell would probably call the police and that would put a serious dent in Sonic's hero record. And if Jell was calling the police anyway Sonic could probably get away with it if he went back to the biplane and deny it, saying that he was here the whole time. The police would probably believe him. However this didn't mean Sonic was giving up, not by a long shot.

"Nice trick hedgehog." Rouge said from above. Sonic looked up at her and smiled at her wittiness. "See ya." Rouge took off after that. Sonic stood there in the rain for a second before he decided to get back to Tails.

_Meanwhile_

"SONIC! Where are you! I'm scared!" Tails ran through the dark forest in the thunderstorm. He was awakened by the thunder and saw that Sonic wasn't there. He had always been completely terrified by thunder and lightning. When he realized he was alone he rushed straight into the forest to look for Sonic. The dark and frightening feeling of being in this forest didn't help matters at all. He kept running, hoping he'd make it to town. It felt as if any second now a monster was going to jump out at him. That's when suddenly something ran in front of him. "AHHHHHHH!" Tails shouted as he skidded to a stop and fell to the ground.

"Tails relax, it's me Sonic." Sonic said running up and kneeling down to face the terrified and shivering fox. He then heard Tails start to cry.

"How do I know you're really Sonic, and not some monster trying to eat me." Tails whimpered.

"I've got a chilidog for you if you lift your head up for me." Sonic said through the crackling thunder. Tails began to consider.

'_It does sound like Sonic...maybe...I can trust...no, that's what it wants you to think...but than again...' _Tails thought. That's when he remembered he was called Tails. Only him and Sonic knew that Tails was his new nickname. It really was him! Tails looked up and saw the smiling blue hedgehog.

"Hey buddy." Sonic said happily. Tails quickly launched himself into Sonic's arms.

"Oh Sonic, I'm so happy it's you!" Tails continued to cry. Sonic patted him on the back lightly and comforted him

"It's all right buddy. Everything is going to be alright." Sonic reassured as he lifted Tails up and began to carry him back to the ship.

"Hey Sonic..." Tails started.

"Yes."

"...Where's my chilidog?" Tails asked. Sonic burst out laughing when he heard this.

"I'll get you one tomorrow."

_The next morning _

Tails was walking in the forest all by himself. He woke up and saw that Sonic was still sleeping. He decided to take Sonic's advice and stick up for himself. He was going to find Hang Nail and the other bullies and give them a piece of his mind. It was time he stopped acting like a baby and started to act like a man. He was going to do what every man does...beat somebody up! Tails continued to walk until he heard the sound of a familiar cackle. Tails turned to see Hang Nail, Slips, and Silt talking to a purple falcon.

"No way! You actually saw that loser two tail hanging out with Sonic the hedgehog! Impossible!" Hang Nail shouted.

"It's true. Last night I was flying to my nest when I spotted them talking together by the beach." The falcon stated.

"Naw. Must've been someone else. Sonic's way too cool to be hanging out with a loser like two tail." Slips said while laughing.

"It's Tails!" Tails ran from behind the tree and went to confront the bullies.

"What did you say?" Silt asked.

"I said my name is Tails." Tails repeated.

"You changed your name to Tails?" Hang Nail asked.

"No. That's my nickname. So I'd appreciate it if you didn't call me Homeless Two Tail anymore." Tails said in a demanding voice. The three bullies and the falcon looked at each other strangely than began to laugh wildly. "What's so funny?" Tails asked confused.

"You actually think we'd care what you'd appreciate us to call you. We'll call you anything we want to call you dumb ass." Hang Nail shouted. Tails growled at him and ran forward.

"I said call me Tails!" He rushed forward and drew back a fist. Hang Nail moved out the way of the obvious attack. Tails tripped a little when his target moved but didn't fall. He instead turned and tried punching the jaguar. Every time Tails tried to land a punch at him he would just sidestep. "I will prove to Sonic that I am strong enough and brave enough to beat you!" Tails shouted as he increased the speed of his punches. Hang Nail however kept dodging as if they were nothing. Hang Nail eventually decided to stop this pathetic attempt of an attack. He jumped over Tails body then landed a huge kick at his head. The kick knocked him off balance and he fell to the ground.

"Take that, TWO TAIL!" Hang Nail shouted victoriously.

"Shut up!" Tails shouted back.

"What?" Hang Nail asked in an unbelievable tone.

"I said shut up." Tails repeated. Hang Nail snarled at him then chuckled. He then let out a huge laugh.

"Okay big shot, if you want to prove your strength than why don't we have a little battle to see just how strong you really are." Hang Nail said.

"Hold on...if you're going to battle we need to sell tickets first." The falcon suggested.

"What!" Tails shouted.

"You heard me. Come on lets go gather up a crowd so everyone can see your humiliation when you lose." Hang Nail said grabbing Tails' tails and dragging him across the ground. The other three soon followed respectively.

_I'm finally finished with this chapter. Only one whole day left before Eggman attacks the next day. Please Review. Will update again soon. _


	5. Chapter 5

_Here is the next chapter of the Homeless Two tailed fox we all know and love as Tails. Read and Review!_

**Chapter 4: Broken Spirit**

"Ladies and gentlemen! Get ready to see the most spectacular one-sided fight ever to hit Westside Island. Hang Nail the jaguar vs. two tail. Who will win this most exciting event…as if you didn't already know. Line up by Silt and she will collect 5 bucks from each of you who wish to see the fight." Slips shouted in a rusty yet still active microphone. Many surrounding kids immediately gathered round the open field and awaited the arrival of the two competitors in question.

"You ready to do this two tail?" Hang Nail asked as he dragged the little fox by his tails toward the field.

"Yeah. I'm ready." Tails said in an unsure and shaky voice. Tails was taking a serious risk here. He didn't know whether to back down or not. _'No I can't. If I back down I'll just be proving to Hang Nail that I am a wimp. No more!' _Tails shouted in his head. He wasn't going to let Hang Nail win. The jaguar pulled Tails toward the field and let him go. The rest of Tails' suspended body fell on to the grass. He quickly scrambled to his feet however. Hang Nail walked to the other end of the field and stood there, anxious to get started. Tails went to the other end, still feeling a bit shaky, never the less he wasn't going to back down.

"Let the battle between Hang Nail and Two Tail commence." Silt said out loud as she used Slips' rusty microphone to bang the also rusty golden bell. The crowd immediately started cheering.

"I told you to call me Tails!" Tails shouted taking his focus off of Hang Nail. The jaguar quickly used this to his advantage by charging at the fox and kicking him over the head. Tails fell to the ground hard then looked up to see the jaguar towering over him.

"I've got this battle in the bag." The jaguar sneered while drawing back a fist. Tails saw the punch coming and quickly rolled out of the way. He jumped off the ground and got into a crooked battle stance. Hang Nail didn't say anything. He immediately charged at Tails with both his arms spread out. Tails may not be a good fighter but he had incredible speed. Tails quickly dodged to the side when he saw the attack coming his way. Hang Nail skidded to a stop when he realized his target moved. "You're pretty good at dodging but that doesn't mean I can't hit you!" Hang Nail charged at Tails again but this time he picked up his feet in order to move faster.

"I'm not gonna give up!" Tails shouted again while jumping in the air. Hang Nail once again was taken by surprise when the fox jumped. Thinking quickly Tails slammed his foot against the jaguar's back. Hang Nail fell to the ground when the kick connected, leaving the fox standing on his back with a huge smile on his face. The crowd stopped their loud cheering as soon as they noticed Hang Nail on the ground.

"Heh heh…nice move kid…I guess this means I'm not going easy on you." Hang Nail sneered.

"Y-you've been going easy on me?" The fox said confused. He really had thought that Hang Nail was giving it his all. Unfortunately that wasn't the case. Hang Nail, without warning, shot his back straight up. The force sent Tails flying in the air. He tried spinning his tails as soon as he went in the air, however they just wouldn't fly right.

"Come on you stupid tails! Work! Work!" Tails shouted as he neared the ground. Hang Nail caught the fox by his extended tails as soon as he was close enough to the ground. The jaguar then began twirling the fox around and around. Tails tried to weasel out of Hang Nail's grasp but he had such a hard grip. Hang Nail twirled and twirled Tails around even faster. He did this for about 2 minutes before stopping and launching the fox in the air again. Tails didn't even try to fly this time. He knew with the luck he has on this planet that he would get the same result. Tails had just given up on flying.

"Now it's time to play my favorite game!" Hang Nail shouted while drawing his fist back at the fox who was nearing his body. "And that game is called punch out the fox!" The jaguar shot out a huge punch at Tails' stomach. The punch almost completely knocked the wind out of Tails. The fox flew in the air again and actually landed on the ground this time. The crowd went silent again than immediately started cheering again. Hang Nail stared at the fox and smiled. He knew the fox gave it HIS all and he was still able to be defeated. The jaguar turned to face the crowd. "Thank you, thank you." Hang Nail said while proceeding to walk off the field. Before he could get all the way off, however, something grabbed his leg. He looked down and saw the fox holding on to his foot.

"It's not over." Tails said in a weak voice. The last punch was now creating a huge pain in his stomach. Even so, Tails could still fight. Hang Nail just took out one area on the fox's body, not his whole body. Hang Nail looked at him surprised. The crowd stopped cheering again at the sight of the still active fox. Tails got off the ground very slowly while clutching his stomach.

"So…I guess you still have some fight left in…" Hang Nail started before Tails punched him square in the nose. The jaguar was taken by a huge amount of surprise and began to fall backward. Everyone gasped at this scene. Thinking ever so fast Tails ran behind the bully and kicked him in the back, which knocked him forward. He then ran to the other side and punched him in the stomach. Tails repeated this process for about 3 minutes before he literally knocked the jaguar off his feet. Hang Nail fell to the ground on his back looking more confused then hurt. Tails stood there looking down at Hang Nail confused as well. Everyone stood there in complete shock. Hang Nail was knocked down by a 4-year-old fox.

"HA! Take that Prissy!" Tails shouted out Hang Nail's real name. Another minute passed by before everyone burst out in laughter. Even Slips and Silt, who already knew Hang Nail's real name, burst out in laughter. Hang Nail's eyes widened as soon as he heard that name. Tails stood there with a proud smirk on his face. He did it! He actually beat Hang Nail! The fox couldn't believe it! Tails joined everyone else in laughter.

"STOP LAUGHING! ALL OF YOU!" Shouted Hang Nail in a scary and demonic voice. Everyone immediately stopped laughing at the sound of the fear-striking shout. Tails stood there and watched as Hang Nail got off the ground. Tails saw the complete and total sense of anger in the jaguar's eyes. The terrified fox took a couple of steps back as the jaguar approached him. "NO ONE CALLS ME BY MY REAL NAME AND GETS AWAY WITH IT! THIS TIME YOU'LL END UP WITH A LOT MORE THAN PINECONES JAMMED IN YOUR MOUTH!" The Jaguar launched himself in the air and spun around rapidly. He then slammed his whole body in to the ground and shot a huge gust of wind at Tails. The wind surrounded him and turned into a small tornado. Tails stood there for a while wondering why the wind wasn't strong enough to lift his body off the ground but still looked fierce enough to. Everyone outside the tornado watched as Hang Nail charged at the tornado, completely confused about what was happening. "This is a technique I made call the TORNADO OF THE CAT SPOTTED WIND!" The jaguar jumped into the tornado and began swirling around with the wind.

"W-what's going on?" Tails looked around looking for signs of Hang Nail anywhere. He couldn't spot him however. All of a sudden he felt a sharp pain in his back. Tails fell forward but stood his ground. That was when he felt another pain in his stomach. Tails fell back this time and got hit 3 more times. The kids all stared at the tornado and listened to the sound of Tails crying out in pain. After 6 more minutes of this the wind disappeared. Hang Nail jumped from the area where Tails stood and landed in front of the crowd. The kids watched as Tails stood there with his back turned from the crowd. He had many bruised parts on his body that would soon become more visible later on and he looked like he was wobbling.

"I guess now we know who really won." Hang Nail said. Almost immediately after he said that Tails fell forward on to the ground. The crowd started cheering again. Hang Nail walked over to the fox that was lying on the ground in pain. He then kneeled down to face him. "I win two tail." The jaguar snarled at him.

"N-no…not fair…" Tails mumbled while he struggled to get up.

"You just don't quit do you?" Hang Nail asked while slamming his foot down on Tail's back. Tails murmured in pain as Hang Nail increased the pressure on his foot.

"I…I won't quit…ever." Tails said.

"Oh please! You'll never be able to beat me, and you know why? It's because you're a homeless two tailed freak!" Hang Nail lifted his foot and slammed it on Tails' back again. Tails cried out in tremendous pain. Hang Nail took his foot off the fox's back. Tails lied there for a second before he tried to get up again. "Why don't you just quit?" Hang Nail said clearly frustrated.

"Because…because Sonic said that I could be strong enough too…"

"Ha! Is he the one who told you to come down here and face me?"

"Yeah, what does that have to do with anything?" Tails asked while staggering to his feet. He wobbled a bit but managed to hold his ground.

"Don't you get it? He filled your head with all this false hope that you could actually beat me. Then he sent you down here to get beaten to a pulp. He played you like a violin and sent you here for me to beat you like a drum. He never liked you, and why would he? He's too cool to hang out with the likes of you. Face it, you're better off dead!"

"No…no…I don't believe you…I…I……I knew he had to be pretending to like me. No one ever likes me." Tails turned to run toward the other end of the island. Every step he took put a huge amount of searing pain in his body. He ignored it however. He was going to make the pain stop the only way he knew how.

_Meanwhile _

Sonic had awakened to see that Tails wasn't there. He left the biplane to look for him in the forest. It was weird. Sonic just came here for a vacation and he ended up meeting this amazing young two tailed fox. He didn't know why but he felt like he had a special bond with this kid, and he had only known him for a day. Since Tails wasn't here right now he would take it upon himself to get him the chilidog he promised the fox. That was when Sonic suddenly saw an orange blur pass by. He recognized that blur somehow. Sonic ran toward the area he saw the blur pass by and turned to look.

"Tails?" Sonic said before he raced after it.

_At the edge of the island_

Tails ran up toward the edge of the cliff and looked down at the ocean. He stared at the waves crashing against the sharp, jagged rocks at the bottom. He sighed in frustration. Even his death couldn't be painless. Tails started to cry as he prepared himself to do this.

"I'm coming mommy and daddy." Tails mumbled as he spread out his arms and began to step off the cliff.

"Tails! What are you doing?" Sonic ran up to him and grabbed his arm.

"I'm going to live with my mommy and daddy in heaven." Tails said through his tears.

"What! You can't do that Tails!" Sonic said while tugging his arm.

"Let go. Please. I want this pain to stop."

"Tails. I can help you…"

" No you can't…because…it's all your fault!" Tails' crying increased.

"What?"

"You're the one who told me to go fight those bullies. I did and I lost bad."

"…Tails I told you to stick up for yourself, not to fight the bullies. Sticking up for yourself doesn't mean to fight, it means to walk away when someone is bothering you or to try and earn your respect by not fighting. Don't you understand?" Sonic tried to consul the fox.

"…But…"

"I can help you get through this Tails."

"…Hang Nail said that I was better off dead…he's right…I'm worthless to the world…"

"You're way to young to be saying that! You're 4-years-old and you were able to survive out here by yourself for 2 years! Plus you have an extended vocabulary and tremendous speed. You're gifted. Don't you realize that? If you kill yourself you're letting those bullies win." Sonic said.

"…"

"I know you don't want to do this. I bet you could even turn out to be as famous as I am, maybe more. But in order for you to earn any respect anywhere on Mobius…your gonna have to trust me. Don't kill yourself because some bully says you're worthless."

"…"

"So, what do you say." Sonic was really trying his hardest to convince this kid. He had such special talents at such a young age. He can't throw it all away because some bastard said he was better off dead. Sonic stared at Tails and watched, as he did nothing. Sonic wondered what the fox was thinking. Did he convince him? Suddenly Tails squirmed out of Sonic's grasp. Before the hedgehog could do anything Tails jumped off the cliff. "Tails!" Sonic shouted as he watched the fox fall toward the ocean. He immediately turned away, not wanting to see the result, and fell to his knees. "Tails." Sonic mumbled as he began to sulk.

"Yes." Said a familiar voice. Sonic's ears perked up when he heard it. He looked up and saw Tails hovering over the edge of the cliff with his tails spinning rapidly.

"Tails!" Sonic grabbed the fox and pulled him into a huge bear hug. "Tails! You…you're flying! Were you really practicing on your flying the whole time…or were you really planning to jump?" Sonic asked while pulling Tails out of the bear hug.

"I was really going to jump…but than I realized you were right. I shouldn't kill myself just because some bully made me sad. So when you convinced me to live I jumped off the cliff to see if I could fly right this time." Tails explained.

"…So you jumped off a cliff, knowing you'd probably die, just to see if you could fly right?" Sonic asked while raising his eyebrow.

"Yup." Tails merely said.

"…You're becoming more like me by the second you little rascal." Sonic said while giving the fox a noogie. Tails let him do it, knowing he was playing around. That was when Tails felt a huge pain in his tails. The fox winced in pain and fell to the ground. "Tails, are you alright? Did I hurt you?" Sonic asked worriedly.

"No…I'm fine…it's just that…Hang Nail really beat me up and I guess the pain also went to my tails. So does what you said mean we are friends?" Tails asked changing the subject. Sonic smiled and gave him a thumbs up.

"Best friends buddy." Sonic reassured. Tails immediately got a huge gleam in his eyes.

"I…I…I…I…I…h-have a best f-friend. I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! I'M BEST FRIENDS WITH SONIC THE HEDGEHOG!" Tails shouted while jumping up and down. He felt the pain coming back again so he immediately stopped then looked at Sonic. He had to make it up to him somehow, and he knew exactly how.

"Okay, okay, calm down. How about we go get you that chilidog now, huh." Sonic said getting up. _'Amazing. The kid had just gotten beaten to a pulp and was still able to move around. However he was beaten up pretty bad. I should probably get him some medical attention…after we get our chilidogs of course._' Sonic thought.

"Actually Sonic, I was wondering if you'd wait for me at the restaurant." Tails said while calming down.

"Uh…sure…but why?" Sonic asked while turning to face the fox.

"I need to go…take care of something." Tails merely said, clearly showing he was hiding something. Sonic raised another eyebrow than slowly nodded.

"Sure…"

"Oh and uh Sonic…I kind of need..." Tails said while fiddling with his hands behind his back. He sure hoped this friendship wouldn't end because of what he was about to ask. Tails summoned up all his courage then opened his mouth to tell Sonic.

"I need 200 dollars!" Tails shouted than smiled brightly.

"…"

"You do have 200 dollars with you don't you?"

"…"

"Sonic?"

"…W-well…I do…but…it's all the money I have with me…and…oh screw it. Sure I can give you 200 bucks." Sonic said in an unsure voice. After all he didn't want to re awaken this kid's sadness by refusing to give him money. Still unsure of what Tails' was planning on doing he ran toward his biplane than jetted back toward Tail's with the money in hand. He gave the young fox the money and smiled. "You satisfied?" Sonic asked.

"Uh huh. Don't worry Sonic I'll spend the money good. I'll spend it real good, you'll see." Tails said.

"Okay, meet me at the restaurant when you're done doing…whatever you're doing." Sonic turned to run to the restaurant. He didn't know if it was smart to give all his money to a 4-year-old, even if he was a little mature for his age. Oh well, he wouldn't have given Tails the money if he didn't trust him.

"Now I can help Sonic, just like he helped me." Tails took the money and headed for the hardware store.

_Later_

Tails gathered about 3 cans of paint and a kit of hardware tools from the store shelves and ran up to the man at the counter feeling as happy as ever. He dragged 2 heavy cans by his arms across the floor and used his tails to carry the other can and the tool kit. He went up to the clerk than put the cans and the kit on the assembly line. On Westside Island 1 can of paint only cost 50 bucks and a tool kit cost 50 also. He didn't know why they put them at that price but he didn't really care. What they did was up to them.

"Excuse me mister. I would like to buy this paint." Tails said in a voice that made it seem as though the cliff accident never even happened. The clerk stood there reading the paper then looked down at the fox.

"You talking to me?" The clerk asked while setting the paper down and giving Tails a cold stare. The fox all of a sudden felt uncomfortable, as he has many times before.

"Y-yeah…I was hoping to buy…" Tails started.

"Wait a minute, I know who you are. You're that homeless two-tailed freak! Get out of my store! I know you don't have any money." The clerk said than grabbed a broom that was sitting in the corner and raised it over the fox's head.

"WAIT! I do have money! I've got 200 bucks see." Tails held up the money, which the clerk immediately snatched away. The clerk looked at the money and examined it.

"Amazing." He said while flipping through the two 100 dollar bills. Tails used his tails to grab a can of paint and a tool kit then grabbed the other two cans of paint with his hands. He took them off the counter and the weight caused them to drop to the floor. Tails then proceeded to drag them out the store.

"Well I guess I can go now huh." Tails said in a struggling voice.

"Hold it! I didn't say you could leave. For a non-freak it would cost 200 bucks, but for freaks it will cost twice as much." The clerk said. Tails turned to face the man looking extremely surprised.

"But…that's not fair." Tails said.

"It's my store, so I choose how much you pay." The clerk said while putting the 200 bucks in the cash register.

"Ummmm…" Tails had to think of something fast. He then got an idea. "Hey I think I saw someone drop a 100 dollar Mobian bill at the back of the store.

"Really?" The clerk got from behind the register than ran toward the back of the store. Tails immediately ran out, or at least tried to with the paint and tools he had. After Tails left he immediately headed for the beach. The huge amount of pain he was still feeling from the after effects of the battle he had with Hang Nail didn't help the fact that he had to drag 3 cans of paint and a tool kit a quarter of a mile toward the beach. Even though he'd be soar when he got there, he wasn't going to give up.

_30 minutes later_

Tails had just reached the beach. He saw the biplane sitting there and immediately ran over toward it. Luckily the plane wasn't bent out of shape when it crashed. That means there was probably less to fix. Tails had always practiced fixing things when he found old broken household appliances lying on the street. He knew the people were trying to throw them out so he decided to try and fix them. He was amazingly able to fix everything he got his hands on. He didn't know how or why but he could just do it. He always thought that made him even more of a freak but now that was all behind him. He was going to use his fixing ability to tune up his hardest challenge yet, Sonic's biplane.

_2 hours later at the restaurant_

Sonic had been sitting at the table of the restaurant for 2 hours and 30 minutes while waiting for Tails. He wondered what was so important for that fox to be doing. He processed this for about a minute before he fell asleep on the table.

"Hey Sonic!" Tails shouted through the whole restaurant, getting everyone's attention including the restaurant owner. Sonic lifted his head up and saw a dirty and oil covered fox coming close toward him.

"Hey Tails. What happened to you?" Sonic asked. Tails walked over in slight pain and sat down next to him.

"It's a secret." Tails said before a frying pan slammed on the table they were sitting at, which scared the hell out of both of them. They looked up and saw the owner with an angry look on his face.

"Is this fox bothering you Mr. Hedgehog." The owner asked. Everyone in the restaurant was watching the scene now. Sonic and Tails sat there and stared at the obviously ticked off man.

"No he wasn't. Actually we were just about to get some chilidogs…for free. You do remember our deal right? A free chilidog for every autograph I signed." Sonic said. The owner looked a bit shocked, as well as the rest of the restaurant. "Well, what are you waiting for? Chop chop!" Sonic demanded.

"Y-yes sir." The owner then ran off to the kitchen. Sonic than turned his attention back to Tails.

"I hope you're hungry little buddy." Sonic said.

"Yup! Sure am." Tails said with his mouth watering. All of a sudden the door slammed open. Sonic and Tails immediately turned to look at the trio that entered the restaurant. All three of them had an unwelcoming and angry look on their face. Tails recognized one of them immediately. "Oh no! It's the hardware store clerk!" Tails shouted than covered his mouth, realizing the clerk would remember his voice. It didn't work however. The clerk turned than walked over to Sonic and Tails.

"You! There was no 100-dollar Mobian bill back there! I called the police after I realized that and told them that you didn't pay the 200 dollars you owe me." The clerk said lowering the price to 200 again realizing if he said 400 then the two police officers would know that was an unfair rip off. The two officers approached Tails with a horrible look of anger on their face.

"Do you know what we do to people who break the law by stealing around here?" One of the cops said.

"Please officers, I did pay the 200 dollars. He increased the price by 200 as soon as I gave it to him though." Tails said in a pleading voice. The second police officer grabbed Tails by the head then picked him up so they could meet face to face.

"We also hate people who tell fibs to avoid confrontation." Said they second cop.

"But I'm telling the truth. I paid 200 dollars." Tails said.

"He's telling the truth. He did pay 200 dollars." Sonic said. Everyone immediately shot confused looks at the hedgehog. Tails sighed in relief when Sonic said that. Surly they would believe him.

"Oh come on Sonic. Even you can't believe this two-tailed freak. We all know he's poor and couldn't possibly get his hands on that kind of money…" The clerk started before Sonic hopped on his chest. The clerk was taken back by Sonic's course of action and he almost fell over. Sonic then grabbed the man's collar on his shirt and pulled his face closer to his.

"Oh I do believe him because I'm the one who gave him the money. So I'd appreciate it if you didn't lie to my face. Unless you think you're strong enough to face me." Sonic smirked.

"Uh…no thank you…back down boys." The clerk said. The police officer immediately dropped Tails back in the seat.

"Thank you." Sonic said while jumping back in his seat as well. The police officers sneered at Tails again before exiting the restaurant.

"Wow! Thanks again Sonic." Tails said as the two chilidogs arrived.

"Don't worry about it Tails. That's what friends are for." Sonic said while picking up his chilidog and taking a huge bite out of it. Tails immediately did the same. He could diffidently get used to this.

_There you go. Review this chapter and tell me how you liked it. I will make sure I update again very soon._


	6. Chapter 6

_Time for another chapter of Westside Island goodness. Read and review please._

**Chapter 5: Invasion**

"Damn it Tails, what is the surprise already." Sonic said while being dragged along by the fox toward the beach. Tails had told him about some surprise he had at the beach and he made Sonic put a blindfold on before they got there. This made Sonic a little irritated. For one he hated being left in the dark about any particular subject and two, sometimes Tails would let go of Sonic's arm and the hedgehog would occasionally crash into a tree. However the hedgehog did love to be surprised.

"We're almost there Sonic. Don't worry." The little fox happily pulled the hedgehog toward the beach, completely anxious to see Sonic's reaction when he saw what he did to his plane. Tails and Sonic were now on the beach. Tails than let go of Sonic's arm and ran toward the plane, or rather walked since he was still healing from the effects of the fight he had earlier.

"Can I open my eyes now?" Sonic asked.

"Okay. You can open your eyes now." Tails shouted back. Sonic grabbed the blindfold and tore it off. His jaw immediately hit the sand when he saw his plane. It looked as good as new, no, better than new! It was no longer red. It had a nice shade of blue paint covering the whole thing. The soot that was once there had disappeared. And also it had the word 'Sonic' written on it with a two tails logo at its side. "So, do you like it?" Tails asked.

"...H-how...h-how..."

"How what Sonic." Tails looked confused.

"How did you do all this!" Sonic asked completely stunned. The hedgehog ran up to the biplane and jumped into the cockpit. "Amazing! You even cleaned the seats! Tails...you're incredible!"

"Well, it was pretty easy but it did take a lot of work." Tails said while rubbing the back of his head.

"I wonder if the engine works." Sonic sat down in the seat and jammed the keys, he found sitting at the side, into the engine socket and turned. The plane immediately started to purr and soon it was up and running fully. "Whoo Hooo! Now I finally have a way off this island." Sonic shouted. Tails' eyes widened when he heard that.

"What! You're leaving!" Tails said while running toward the hedgehog.

"Well of course. I can't stay here forever." Sonic said. That's when Tails began to cry. "Hey, hey. What's the matter?" Sonic asked.

"You can't leave me here Sonic! We're best friends remember."

"...I didn't say I was leaving you behind buddy." Tails' ears immediately perked up.

"Y-you mean..."

"Yup. You're gonna live with me." Sonic said while holding his arms up and waving them in the air. Suddenly, without warning, Tails jumped in the cockpit and tackled Sonic onto the seat of the plane and began hugging him tightly.

"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!" Tails said repeatedly.

"...You're...welcome...could you...please loosen your grip...I need to be breath." Sonic said. Tails did what he was told but still continued hugging the hedgehog. After about a minute Tails lifted his head up.

"_Sniff' _Wow '_sniff'_ I can't believe I am actually going to have a home. This is the greatest day of my..." Tails started before he was hit hard over the head with a coconut. Sonic lifted his head up when he saw this happen.

"Tails are you alright?" Sonic asked.

"Uh...Sure Sonic...I...wow...pretty stars..." Tails' eyes rolled to the back of his head and he fell backward and passed out. Sonic quickly caught him before he hit the back of the seat.

"All right, who threw that!" Sonic yelled as he looked around. He than heard some snickering coming from one direction behind a tree. Sonic was about to go after it but they came out of their hiding spot before he could move.

"That was a nice shot Silt." Hang Nail said while approaching the plane.

"Thanks, I had a lot of practice." Silt said before they all burst out in laughter.

"Hello!" Sonic shouted angrily. The three looked up and saw Sonic standing on the edge of the biplane while tapping his foot.

"Oh hey Mr. Hedgehog. We got the squirt for you." Slips said happily.

"Thanks but he wasn't bothering me!" Sonic said in an even angrier voice.

"What are you so mad about? We took care of the runt for you." Hang Nail asked. Sonic jumped from the cockpit to the ground to face them.

"I didn't want him taken care of. I was enjoying his company." Sonic reassured. The three bullies gasped in shock.

"B-but you're a world wide hero. You're not suppose to hang out with low lives like him." Hang Nail said pointing up at the unconscious fox.

"What exactly makes him a low life! Is it because you think he's a freak? Just because he has an extra tail makes him a freak! Hey here's an interesting fact, I'm a blue hedgehog. Does that mean I'm a freak too?" Sonic asked. The bullies stood there and were silent. "Get out of here before I get even more irritated." Sonic jumped back into the cockpit and picked up the coconut. The bullies stood there still shocked for a second but eventually turned to leave. Sonic turned and saw the bullies already leaving. "Hey! You forgot something!" Sonic tossed the coconut at Slips head and it hit directly. The monkey stood there for a second then passed out. Silt and Hang Nail looked down at the monkey completely surprised. Hang Nail than turned to look at the hedgehog angrily.

"Do what ever you want hedgehog! We don't care anymore. We're going to help set up the council meeting for tomorrow about who's going to be the new mayor. In the mean time you two freaks can leave the island! Good riddens to both of you!" Hang Nail shouted grittily.

"Why the hell are you still here! Leave now!" Sonic shouted back. Hang Nail hesitated for a second than leaned down to pick up Slips. He took another hard glance at the hedgehog before he and Silt walked off. Sonic watched them go for a minute and than sighed. He looked down at the still unconscious fox. A small bump was appearing on the spot where the coconut hit.

'_What jerks. Tails doesn't deserve any of this. I'd be a crime to let him stay here. I bet that in a little while everyone here will be dead because of their foolishness." _Sonic thought.

"...Ugh...wh-what happened." Tails mumbled as he started to stir. Tails opened his eyes up completely and sat up.

"Those bullies came and tossed a coconut at your head. You feeling alright buddy?" Sonic asked while rubbing the fox's head.

"Uh huh." Tails merely said.

"How can you put up with such ignorance? You've gone through this for two years right?"

"Yeah. It's because they think I'm a freak...hey Sonic...do you...uh..." the fox hesitated.

"Do I what?" Sonic raised a curious eyebrow.

"Do you...think of me...as a freak?" Tails said.

"...Of course not." Sonic reassured. He saw the fox turn to side and look down.

"It's okay if you do. I mean everyone else..." Tails started before Sonic grabbed both his shoulders and turned the fox's body so it was facing him directly. Tails than looked up to see Sonic's emerald green eyes staring into his own eyes with a look of complete seriousness.

"Tails, I'm not everyone else. Unlike everyone else on this island I actually have feelings. And besides I'm a blue hedgehog. That sort of makes me like you, but that doesn't mean I'm a freak. Nether are you." Sonic saw a tear come down the fox's face.

"Yeah but...you're a hero... and I'm a worthless..."

"Stop saying that you're worthless!" Sonic said raising his voice at the fox. A couple more tears flowed down the fox's face when Sonic began to shout.

"..._'sigh' _Look kid, I'm sorry I snapped at you but you've gotta stop being so negative. You've probably thought that you'd live your whole life poor, alone, shelter less, and hungry. Well guess what, you've just had a freshly made chilidog earlier, you have a best friend who actually cares about you, and as soon as we get home you will have a new shelter. Don't sell you're life short just because some dumbass people say it's a crime to be different."

"...You _'sniff' _really think that I can be something more than just a two tailed freak." Tails said while trying to refrain from crying.

"I know you can buddy." Sonic said while patting the fox on the back. Tails smiled but still had tears rolling out of his eyes.

"Thanks." Tails said while wiping the tears from his eyes.

"Don't mention it." Sonic said proudly. He knew he was going to have to cut his vacation short for this kid but he knew it was worth it. After all it's not likely that you would meet up with a new room mate after only two days of being on vacation.

_Meanwhile_

"Damn it all! That idiot lizard makes me so mad. I need that emerald! The only way I'm going to get it though, is if I try robbing him again tomorrow. He's probably bumped up security since than but than again who doesn't like a challenge?" Rouge said while sitting alone in a tree. She had been pondering from some time now why Jell would be in a boring and unexciting place like this. He used to be so daring and attractive. Now he was so careful and lame. Rouge slowly noticed he was changing while they were dating and eventually dumped him. She thought it was for the best but Jell didn't take it so well. She hasn't seen or heard from him until she got to this island.

"Ribbit." said an unknown voice. Rouge's ears perked up and she looked below to see a frog sitting on top of someone's head.

"Ahhh! What the...Hey mister, do you know you've got a frog on your head?" Rouge shouted toward him.

"Yup." Said the purple cat with the frog sitting on his head.

"...What's your name?"

"Big." He answered.

"Big?" Rouge said confused. That was his real name? She processed this for a little while then noticed he had a fishing rod with him.

'_A fishing rod? Hey, I could use that to my advantage in my heist tomorrow.' _Rouge thought. "Hey Big." Rouge said.

"Yeah."

"That's a nice rod you've got there. I was wondering if you and you're big boned body could help me with something." Rouge smirked. Big looked up at her confused.

_That Night_

Bokkun flew rapidly around the capsule that the still unconfirmed metal figure was suppose to be in and started to panic. Just than Dr. Eggman walked in with his hands behind his back.

"Well everything is ready to go...Bokkun, are you alright?" Eggman asked noticing he was flying around the room looking quite scared.

"Metal is gone." Bokkun said finally stopping.

"What?" Eggman asked not believing what he heard.

"He said he was going out to prove that he could get the job done and he left just like that." Bokkun explained.

"...Well than don't worry."

"Huh?"

"Will just wait and see what happens next."

_Down at the open field _

Tails sat alone and looked up at the stars and the moon. He left the cockpit and told Sonic he'd be back in 10 minutes. Sonic said if he wasn't back in ten minutes he'd come looking for him. Tails thought that was a bit rash but he agreed to it never the less. Tails was keeping the time in his head and knew he had about 45 seconds left. The fox got up and looked around the vast open field. This place was the only place he could go to get away from all the stress he felt on the island. He didn't want to say goodbye to it but he knew he couldn't take the whole field with him. Tails sighed than turned to head back to the ship. All of a sudden he heard a huge foot stomp against the ground. Tails turned to see who it was.

"Sonic is that you?" Tails asked the figure. The metal figure didn't say anything. Instead he approached the fox slowly. Tails all of a sudden had a weird and uneasy feeling. He slowly began to back up as the figure moved closer. Soon Tails tripped over a rock and fell on the grass.

"S-Sonic. P-please stop...you're scaring me." Tails said in a shaky voice. The figure kept stepping closer and closer until he was standing directly in front of Tails. The fox looked up into those red eyes the figure had and was completely freaked out now.

"Y-you're not Sonic." Tails said in fear. The figure sure did look like Sonic however. "W-what are you gonna do?" Tails asked. The figure said nothing at first but than surprisingly launched a huge fist at the fox. "Please don't...!" Began Tails.

_Meanwhile_

Sonic sat alone in the plane's cockpit. He thought about everything the little fox was capable of. He had great speed and agility, he was a great mechanic, he had an extensive vocabulary, and he had the power to fly. Sonic could barely believe that he was only 4.

"He might even surpass me one day." Sonic said quietly to himself. He was about to go check up on the fox when he heard a huge scream come from the forest. Sonic turned to look. He recognized that voice. He knew it had to be...

Sonic immediately jumped out of the cockpit and landed square on the beach. He than proceeded to run as fast as he could toward the area where he heard the scream.

'Please. Please let him be alright." Sonic came closer and closer to the area the scream came from. The hedgehog looked left and right but there was no sign of him. He than came to an open field. He immediately stopped. He couldn't believe what he saw. Someone that was Sonic's same height and color stood there clutching Tails by the neck. Sonic stood there stunned before he quickly realized he had to save his friend. "Hey you! Let him go!' Sonic shouted. The figure looked up to see the blue hedgehog standing there. The figure quickly let the struggling fox go and turned to run away. Sonic didn't bother to go after him, he was too concerned for his friend. The hedgehog ran up to the fox and kneeled down to face him. "Tails are you alright?" Sonic asked while rubbing him gently.

"Sonic...is that you?" Tails said in a voice that clearly showed he was still struggling for some air. Sonic held the little fox's head up and looked at his neck. He saw that Tails' neck area was completely red. Whoever he was, he had a hard grip.

"Yes it's me buddy. Come on, lets get you some water." Sonic picked the fox up and carried him toward the restaurant. He sure hoped the fox was going to be alright.

_The next day _

The sun had rose a few hours ago and Rouge was ready to carry out her plan. She never did a daytime job before but shrugged at the topic thinking 'There is a first time for everything.' Knowing this would be an extremely easy task she was able to awaken Big and Froggy and get them to come with her to the jewelry store before 9:00. The three approached the store and walked in casually. The plan was for Rouge and Big to walk in then Big would let froggy lose in the store. While Jell was busy with froggy, Big and Rouge would go to the huge room where the chaos emerald was locked up. Rouge would than use her code breaking skills to type the scanner's password in order to open the door to the room. She would then get Big to use his fishing rod to catch the emerald through the security beams that were most likely located there. It wasn't the stealthiest plan but it should be able to work. So long as nothing goes wrong.

_At the beach_

Sonic had just awakened to see the sun in his eyes. The hedgehog turned away fast to look in a different direction. He watched the forest and the sky that overlooked it. There were a lot of grey clouds in the sky and the air was nice and cool. The hedgehog saw that the sunlight was disappearing as the clouds began to form. They weren't dark enough for it to rain however, maybe a slight drizzle though. Sonic stood up and stretched than yawned. He and Tails were going to leave this horrible place today. That's when it hit Sonic. Tails wasn't in the cockpit...again.

"Oh great! Now where'd he go." Sonic complained while heading out to the forest.

_At the top of a cliff overlooking the town (Not the ocean)_

Tails sat there and watched the town. Everyone was just now waking up to go to the council meeting where the new mayor would be elected. Tails' sighed and smiled.

"Knowing this place it's probably going to be someone mean. It's a good thing me and Sonic are leaving today." Tails said looking up at the clouds. That was when he heard a familiar footstep into the ground. Tails felt like his heart stopped when he heard it. The fox knew that sound. He turned his head hesitantly to see who it was. "Ahhhh! It's you! What do you want with me!" Tails shouted backing up. He continued to back up until felt his foot step off the edge of the cliff. Tails pulled it back up and looked down. It wasn't a very long fall but it would still hurt. Tails than turned back to face the metal figure. Tails looked back at the cliff than at the metal creature again.

"This won't take long. Hold still and this will be quick." The figure began walking up to the fox slowly. Tails was apparently so scared that he forgot he could fly. By the time he realized that, it was too late. The Metal figure had him in his clutches again.

"W-who are you?" Tails asked in a struggling voice.

"I am Metal Sonic!" he answered as his red eyes began to glow.

"That explains a lot!" Sonic shouted from behind. Metal Sonic turned to look behind him and saw the blue hedgehog standing there with his legs spread. "I bet you were that thing inside the capsule I destroyed long ago. I wonder how you survived." Sonic asked as if Tails wasn't being choked. Tails looked at Sonic wondering why he wouldn't help him already. Metal sonic turned to look at the fox he held in his hand than began to speak to Sonic.

"So you're the famous Sonic the hedgehog Doctor Eggman told me about. He said he based his design of me on you." Metal Sonic said not realizing Sonic was no longer there. He than saw a blue blur appear around his hand and then the fox was gone as well. "What! Where'd he go?" Metal looked around and saw nothing.

"Up here!" Sonic yelled as he fell from the sky toward Metal's head. He hit him directly and landed fast on his feet. The hedgehog than stood up to go speak with Tails, who was laying at the side, but was meet with a kick to his back. Sonic fell over but than front flipped and turned his body so it was facing Metal Sonic. The angry robot launched himself at Sonic, as did Sonic himself and they both collided hands. Sonic tried holding the robot back but it seems he was too strong. Metal sonic was slowly pushing Sonic backward while Sonic was accomplishing nothing.

"Sonic!" Tails yelled as he got up and headed toward the hedgehog.

"Go warn the town Tails!" Sonic said in a struggling voice. Tails stopped and stared in confusion at the hedgehog.

"What? I can't do that." Tails said.

"You have to. If one of Eggman's robots are here there are bound to be thousands more. He's probably planning an invasion. You have to tell everyone to evacuate now!" Sonic shouted as he began to sweat. Tails looked shocked now. He knew there was no way to get any of them to listen to him. He still had to try however, that's what Sonic wants.

"...Okay Sonic." Tails said in a courageous voice. The fox turned to run down the cliff and immediately spun his tails in order to get more speed. He rushed toward the area where the council was being held, hoping he'd get there in time.

"Good luck Tails." Sonic said before he felt a huge kick in his stomach. The hedgehog trailed back at the enormous amount of pain that kick caused. Before Sonic could pull himself together a red laser was shot at him. Sonic quickly dodged only to get in the way of another laser. Sonic was soon jumping backward while avoiding lasers from left to right rapidly. Than, without warning, Metal sonic ran up to the hedgehog and gave him a huge forceful punch in the stomach that sent him upward. Metal Sonic quickly jumped up and began punching the hedgehog in the stomach multiple times which made him go even more upward. Metal than used his jet back to fly over the hedgehog and use both hands to whack him back to the land. Sonic hit the ground hard while Metal landed gracefully. "Man, this guy is tough." Sonic said struggling to his feet. That's when he heard the familiar sound of an airship engine. Sonic looked up and saw nothing but knew it was there. It was Eggman's Air fortress.

_The same time_

"Welcome everyone! Ladies, gentlemen, and kids of all ages. It is now time that we elect a new mayor!" A walrus in a black suit said while on stage. Everyone present clapped their hands except for Tails, who was forcefully trying to fight his way through the crowd. When this didn't work, he spun his tails and took flight. He then zoomed over the stage and landed in front of the walrus. "Hey! Get out of the way!" the walrus said reaching at Tails. Tails moved out of the way which caused the walrus to trip and fall off stage. Tails than grabbed the microphone the walrus dropped.

"Hey get off the stage!" Shouted a kid who looked about 8 years old.

"Yeah we wanted to here what the walrus wanted to say Two tail!" Shouted another kid about 12 years old. The adults that were there also began throwing comments at the fox as well. Soon everyone began to yell and throw things at the now frightened two tailed fox.

"Bring back the walrus guy!" Shouted Hang Nail as he threw another coconut at Tails. It was a little off balance so when it actually hit Tails all he did was trail back. The fox than regained his control and began to shout into the microphone.

It was time to stand up to these people.

"Shut Up! You need to evacuate now!" Tails shouted. Everyone almost immediately went silent. "You all need to escape! Some guy named Dr. Eggman is attacking our island!" Tails shouted. Every stood there for a second then they all burst out laughing at him.

"Dr Eggman! Yeah right!" Said a middle aged woman.

"It's true! If you all don't leave, Dr. Eggman's gonna kill you all with his robots, like the one that Sonic is fighting right now!" Tails shouted again. Everyone continued to laugh. Even the babies started to giggle for no apparent reason.

That's when they all heard a weird sound of a loud grinding engine. They all went quiet when they heard it. Soon the whole area was covered by a huge shadow. It was too late to leave now. Everyone looked up and watched as Eggman's aircraft now became visible. The whole crowd of people, including Hang Nail and the other two bullies, watched as the bottom of the craft slowly began to open. As soon as it was open all the way the action seemed to stop. They all watched for a minute expecting something to happen. That was when silver full bodied robots came falling from the sky, from the inside of the open hatch of the ship. They all landed on the ground and surrounded the now scared crowd of people. Tails heard a huge clamp sound come from behind him. Tails turned quickly to see a silver robot standing behind him. It pointed a hug laser at the terrified fox and began to shoot. Tails however jumped over the robot and it began to shoot at the crowd. The robot shot and killed a middle aged woman and an 8 year old boy. The other robots saw this as a signal to attack so they began charging up their guns.

"Hold it!" shouted a voice from above. Everyone looked up and saw that a hovering platform with an unidentifiable figure was coming down toward them. The platform landed and the figure stood up. "Why hello inhabitants of Westside Island. I'm Dr. Eggman! The one who will be killing you all today. Robots, I'm giving you all permission to kill and destroy anything in you're path. Now than, ATTACK!" Eggman said pointing forward. Everyone began to scream and run around in circles. This made it a lot easier for the robots however. They soon began to shoot everyone they saw. Men, woman, and children were getting killed by the second. Many were still sane enough to make it too the forest though. This didn't help however. Thousands more robots began flooding from the sky again and began shooting all over the place. They destroyed buildings and engulfed many forest areas in flames. The smoke began to fly to the sky as well as the embers. The smoke and embers made their way around the huge air craft in the sky and merged with the sky. This quickly began to turn the once light blue sky bright red and orange. Eggman then turned on his communicator in order to speak with Bokkun.

"Bokkun, can you read me?" He asked.

"Loud and clear Doctor." Bokkun said from inside the ship.

"Good, I want you to shoot missiles in all random directions all over the island. I'm going to make it rain missiles and robots until the island is completely obliterated." Eggman explained.

"Okay!" Bokkun said while proceeding to press the buttons. Eggman than turned off his communicator completely satisfied with the way things were going. He got back on his hovercraft and flew back to the ship.

_Meanwhile_

"There it is! I see the emerald!" Rouge said while running up to the glass case. Big and froggy were now joining her as well. It turns out they didn't need to distract Jell with Froggy because he was sleeping. With that Rouge lifted the glass case than balled it up in her hand and through it behind her.

"His glass case is made of see through paper. Ha! He's so cheap he can't even afford good security. I still can't believe his password was "Da lizard man rocks!" either." Rouge said as Big lowered his fishing poll over the security beams the see through paper case used to be surrounding.

"Miss Rouge? Are you sure this is okay?" Big asked while hooking on a sharp end of the emerald.

"Of course. Now be careful. Wouldn't want that security beam to...hey what's that frog of yours doing!" Rouge shouted as she saw froggy happily jump off Big's head and land in the security beams. Big and Rouge both flinched than realized that nothing happened. Rouge looked amazed for a second than she put her hand through the beams. "Wait a minute! These are disco lights! That cheap bitch!" Rouge shouted.

"Why thank you Rouge." Jell said from across the room. Rouge and big both turned to see Jell standing there with a sense of victory on his face. He than suddenly ran up to the pedestal, grabbed the emerald than ran behind the both of them.

"Give me the emerald Jell. You're putting yourself at huge risk here." Rouge said holding out her hand.

"No! It's mine. And besides if it is dangerous than why aren't you falling for me again." Jell asked.

"Huh?" Rouge was confused.

"You said you dumped me because I was being a lot more careful on our heists together. Well, now that I have this so called dangerous emerald I can prove to you that I am worthy of being you're boyfriend again."

"Jell...look...I like people who are risk takers, that's true but not someone who is incredibly stupid! Dangerous people want to get their hands on that emerald. I'm trying to protect you!"

"Shut up! Do you have any idea what I've been through since you left me? You put me through a whole lot of crap you know! It took me everything I had to try and find a safe place to hide from the cops when I went solo. Now that I have this emerald I'm never giving it up! Ever!" Jell shouted right before the walls were blasted through. Smoke began to fill the room and robots with their lasers extended began to walk in.

"Jell! They want the emerald! Quickly toss it over here!" Rouge shouted.

"No way!"

"Jell, don't be an idiot!"

"I'm going to make you love me again if it's the last thing I..." Jell started before he was blasted by a huge laser. The laser went through his stomach and shot the rest of his body against the wall. Rouge gasped and immediately ran over to him.

"Jell?" Rouge kneeled down at him.

"...I don't get it...I was so careful..." Jell said in a silent and struggling voice before his head rolled to the side and he died off. Rouge stared at the corpse for a second than grabbed the emerald.

"Sometimes being careful isn't the smart thing to do." Rouge said as she dodged up coming lasers. The lasers ended up hitting Jell's corpse. Rouge than landed in front of Big and Froggy. "Lets go Big." Rouge and Big began to run out of the room and headed for the door.

_Back at the forest_

Slips backed into a tree as three robots were now enclosing on him. He didn't know what to do and for some reason didn't care what he did. As long as he came out of this alive. Tails hovered over the area where Slips was. He looked down and saw the monkey being cornered.

"Is that Slips? Aw man, what do I do?" Tails said. _'Nothing, I will do nothing. He picked on me. But...he doesn't deserve to die for that. Wait a minute, yes he does! All bullies deserve to die! No, No don't think like that! He may be a bully but..."_ Tails was having a huge conflict in his mind about whether to save him or not. He soon made up his mind when he saw the robots extended their cannons at the monkey. Tails immediately swooped down and grabbed the monkey than carried him behind the robots and set him down. the robots ended up shooting a tree.

"Are you alright?" Tails asked. Slips said nothing then surprisingly pushed him to the ground.

"Don't touch me freak!" He said.

"Hey! I just saved your life! Tails complained.

"So! You're still a freak!" Slips folded his arms. Tails was about to get up when he saw Slips get hit with a laser from behind. The laser burst through his stomach and hit one of the robots that Tails had rescued Slips from.

"Oh no!" Tails shouted getting up. Slips stood there with blank look in his eyes before he toppled over and died. Tails looked forward at the robot who killed him and watched as he extended his laser at him. The fox thought quickly and jumped over the robot before he fired and landed behind him

"I gotta find Sonic." Tails said as he began to run. He turned a corner in the forest and crashed into someone. He fell to the ground and saw Silt standing there. "Silt? What are you doing?" Tails asked. Tails got off the ground and stood up to face her.

"I'm looking for Hang Nail. I saw him fighting a couple of robots and then I saw a missile come down and explode at the area he was fighting at. I think he nmight be dead." Silt said in a worried voice. Just than they both heard robot footsteps coming close to them. Silt looked all over the place for something to fight with but all she saw was a fallen tree branch. She picked it up and held it in a defense position. "You'd better get out of here fox boy." she said. This statement shocked Tails. Why would she care if Tails got away or not?

"What?" Tails asked in a surprised tone.

"...Listen kid, I've got a confession to make. I never really hated you as much as Hang Nail and Slips thought I did. However I did think you were a freak." Silt admitted. Tails had a even more surprised look on his face. "I actually...thought you were pretty cute...for a 4 year old fox boy." Silt said noticing the robots had just rounded the corner.

"..." Tails was speechless. He didn't know what to say. Unfortunately he didn't have the time. The robots were here now. Tails turned to run but before he could get away Silt grabbed his arm, turned him around, than kissed him on the cheek. Tails immediately blushed but still had a confused look on his face. He stood there for about a minute in complete shock before he shook his head awake when a laser blasted past him. He immediately turned and ran. Silt watched him go than turned her attention back to the robots.

"Come and get me!" she said running up to them. She jumped than attacked with the stick. It immediately broke on contact. The robot she attacked than grabbed her arm and flung her at a tree hard. She looked up and saw the robots charging up their lasers. "What...No. No!" She said in disbelief as they fired and killed her.

_Back on the cliff _

Sonic was getting beat up hard by Metal Sonic. Sonic fell to the ground multiple times but always was able to get up. He had an incredibly strong will after all. However this strong will of his was soon drained. Eventually Metal hit him so hard he fell to the ground and didn't get up. The robot stared at the motionless hedgehog and looked over the edge of the cliff. There he saw his target running toward Sonic's biplane. The two tailed fox was the one he was really after, not some hyper active hedgehog. Metal quickly used his jet back to fly off the cliff toward his target. Sonic justy layed there and saw Metal Sonic leave.

"He's after Tails...I've got to help him." Sonic struggled to his feet painfully then ran after Metal. Back in the forest Tails was almost on his way back to the biplane. He thought he was home free when he reached the beach. However, that wasn't the case. Before Tails could get to the biplane Metal Sonic dived in front of the fox's path, which scared the hell out of him.

"My mission will not be complete until your dead!" Metal Sonic said charging his cannon. Tails was shocked to see him come down so fast he had no counter move. Just as he thought he was going to die, a blue sphere collided with Metal and knocked him to the ground.

"No one hurts my pal." Sonic said rolling out of the ball form.

"Sonic!" Tails shouted happily.

"Come on buddy. Lets go!" Sonic and Tails both ran toward the blue biplane and hopped in. Without anytime to waste they started up the engine and soon took off into the bright red and orange sky. Metal scrambled to his feet and unwantingly watched as they flew over the sea toward the direction Sonic came from originally. Tails looked back at the island. It was on fire, many people were being killed, and there were random explosions everywhere. He thought for a minute as he watched this scene.

"Its a drawing of what my life was like before I met Sonic." Tails mumbled as they rode away from the island.

"Well that worked!" Rouge said happily while holding the chaos emerald in hand while sitting in a canoe with Big and Froggy who were also heading toward the direction Sonic came from. "Now I can find the other 6 emeralds and make sure they stay in good hands this time...my hands." Rouge said before laughing loudly while Big rowed the boat.

_Unknown factory 1 day later _

"Commander SmokeStack, we've just received word that Westside Island has been destroyed." Said a men in a G.U.N uniform on.

"...Oh really...Did my searcher robot I left on that island say the fox was alive." Smoke asked while sitting in a rusty metal chair.

"Uh..." The man hesitated knowing how much he wanted the fox dead. If he gave him any bad news he could kiss his life goodbye. "...Well sir...it said...he escaped."

"...Perfect."

"Wha?"

"You can leave now." Smoke said waving his hand at the door. The man stood there confused but than decided to take that as a thank you and leave. Smoke watched him go and smirked. "This will diffidently be fun." Smoke muttered.

_There you go! That was my longest chapter so far. Will update again soon. Review and tell me how you liked it._


	7. Chapter 7

_Sorry for the wait on the next chapter. I was flooded with a lot of homework. Anyway, here's the next chapter. Read and Review._

**Chapter 6: Kitsune within**

"I can't believe it! All I wanted you to do was to destroy that inferior hedgehog! But instead you attack the fox! Errrr! Get out of my sight!" Eggman shouted at the failed Metal Sonic. He was so feed up with his incompetence. Unlike other people, when Eggman says three strikes you're out he means it.

"But sir…" Metal Sonic began before Eggman slammed his fist down on the metal counter beside him, signaling the robot to be quiet.

"No excuses! Bokkun!" Eggman shouted in anger. Truth be told he wasn't really angry that he failed, he was angry at the fact that a superior machine like Metal Sonic could fail. Before Eggman could keep processing this the messenger boy Bokkun showed up and flew toward Eggman with his hands at his side.

"Yes sir!" Bokkun said.

"Toss him in the obedience chamber." Eggman commanded. Bokkun flew toward Metal in order to do as Eggman instructed but before he could even touch the robot it moved out of the way.

"Resisting arrest?" Eggman said while smirking.

"Give me another try." Metal Sonic said keeping his head low.

"Another try? I don't ever give robots that are strong enough to succeed but end up failing anyway another try. What makes you so special huh? Why should I give you another try?" Eggman asked while tapping his foot up and down.

"…Because…because you need me in order to succeed." Metal merely said. Both Eggman and Bokkun stared at the blue robot quizingly. It was about a minute before Eggman finally answered.

"…Fine." The answer got both Metal's and Bokkun's attention.

"Thank you sir." Metal said turning around and leaving the room. Bokkun stared at the door Metal Sonic just exited in shock. He turned to look up at Eggman who was also leaving the room but going the opposite way Metal took.

'_You're up to something Metal. Don't think for a second that I won't find out.'_ Eggman thought as he headed toward his robot creation room on the ship.

_Mystic Ruins: the same day _

Sonic and Tails had arrived at Sonic's home in the Mystic Ruins a few hours ago after the attack. Tails was shivering madly when they walked in. It wasn't because he was cold however. It was because he was still frightened about the events he saw on that island. All those people were being killed so brutally. It didn't seem fair, even if they all probably deserved it. To think if they had just believed the fox they probably would've been able to escape. The ignorance of those people caused them all to die. Tails sat on the floor in Sonic's small living room and stared at the plasma screen T.V in front of him.

"You like it?" Sonic said approaching from behind. Tails jumped up and turned toward Sonic.

"Yeah…how'd you…" Tails began.

"It was a gift, a pretty nice one too. I was a little hesitant about keeping it when I read the card though. It said 'Dear Sonic, this is for you. I am always thinking about you because according to the restraining order that's all I'm allowed to do.'" Sonic recited. Tails didn't understand but decided not to dwell on something that wasn't any of his concern. The fox then sat back on the floor. Sonic noticed this and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Huh?" Tails turned around and saw the hedgehog staring at him with a confused look on his face. "What is it? Did I do something wrong?" Tails asked.

"No, it's just…why would you want to sit on the floor when I have a couch right behind you?" Sonic asked. Tails looked around Sonic and saw the couch sitting there just as Sonic said.

"Well…that couch looks nice…and people don't like it when I'm near their nice things…so I thought…" Tails began.

"Tails, I told you, you're not on Westside Island anymore. Plus we're roommates. Everything I have is also yours too. So come on." Sonic said as he sat on the couch.

"But…"

"Come on Tails. Sit on the couch. I know you can do it." Sonic said in a cheery voice. He almost couldn't believe he was being a cheerleader for Tails about something as simple as sitting on a couch. Tails fiddled with his hands cutely and stared at the couch with a sense of resistance. Tails soon however decided to go for it. He walked up to the couch slowly and gently sat down on it, closing his eyes as he did this. When he felt something cushiony and soft on his backside he opened his eyes and looked down. He was actually sitting on the couch.

"Am I…" Tails asked.

"Yup! It's what all heroes refer to as chilling out." Sonic said leaning back into a lazy position on the couch. Tails watched him do this and decided it was probably okay for him to try as well. Tails leaned back the same way Sonic did and soon slumped into the lazy position Sonic was in. It was incredible. He had never felt such comfort in his life.

"This is great." The fox said quietly.

"It sure is." Sonic said while slowly starting to drift to sleep. That was when he remembered something. "The Chaos emerald is still on that island!" Sonic shouted which startled the hell off of Tails and caused him to fall off the couch. He landed face first on the rug and just lied there. Sonic saw this and kneeled down to see if the fox was okay. "I'm sorry about that. Are you alright buddy?" Sonic asked a bit worried. Tails poked his head off the ground and looked up.

"Yeah I'm fine." Tails got up off the ground and watched as Sonic paced around the room.

"That must be the reason he attacked the island. He must've wanted the chaos emerald. That means he probably has it now. This is perfect! How am I going to find that aircraft Eggman is hiding in to get it back? It's probably half way around the world by now." Sonic than stopped pacing at the sound of a stomach growling. He turned and saw Tails holding his stomach with a straining look on his face.

"You alright buddy?" Sonic asked as Tails kept clutching his stomach in pain.

"No…I think…something's wrong with my stomach." Tails said in a straining voice. All of a sudden they both heard a familiar air ripping sound. Tails blushed when he heard it, knowing it was him who made the sound.

"…That was a fart wasn't it?" Sonic said while smirking brightly. Tails blushed even more and nodded. "It's okay buddy. There is no reason to be embarrassed. Your stomach's just hurting because you need to use the bathroom. It's right down the hall over there." Sonic pointed toward a small hallway, which Tails immediately flew toward in embarrassment. Sonic chuckled than sat on the couch.

_Station Square_

"Yes sir your eggyness. I BA BA BABBOON am now at the shopping facility of which you spoke of!" Shouted a baboon with a metal arm, leg, and eye into the communicator.

"SHHH! You idiot! Don't shout your name out loud like that! We need to stay secretly hidden. Now Ba Ba Baboon I need you to take the two monkey shaped robots into the Station Square grocery store and make sure you make a big enough mess for Sonic to show up. Kill him on sight! I don't want him interfering with my plans I have with that fox friend of his." Eggman shouted into the communicator.

"All right Egg boss man. I BA BA BABOON SHALL…"

"No, seriously. I need you to shut up and go into that store!" Eggman said disconnecting the communication link.

"…Party pooper." Baboon mumbled than turned to the robots who were dressed in black over coats to keep their identities secret from the general public. "All right you guys, it's time to get this party started." Baboon said waving his hands in the robot's faces. The robots did nothing. "…Boy, even his robots have no party in them. Come on lets get this mission over with." Baboon said walking up to the store.

_Back in the Mystic Ruins _

"Feeling better yet bud." Sonic asked. Tails had just gotten out of the bathroom. He was feeling much better now.

"Yeah I'm feeling great Sonic. Can we go get some ice-cream?" Tails asked. He had always hoped that one day he would be able to eat or even have a lick of that beautiful substance he saw all the other inhabitants on Westside Island eating. He sure hoped Sonic wouldn't mind buying him some.

"Sure we can go for ice-cream kid." Sonic said happily. Tails immediately jumped up and down in excitement. _'Kids and ice-cream, the classic mix.'_ Sonic thought as he motioned Tails toward the door.

_In Station Square about 30 minutes later_

Sonic and Tails had gotten off the train a while ago and were proceeding to head toward an ice-cream parlor. Sonic knew where the best one in the city was located and it wouldn't take him anytime at all to get there. It was located beside the Station Square grocery store where basically everyone goes to shop for groceries. Sonic and Tails were just now approaching the grocery store.

"Wow! I can't wait to eat my ice cream Sonic. I bet it tastes just like chilidogs." Tails said still jumping up and down.

"I doubt that Tails." Sonic said as walked even closer to the grocery store. He was about to walk past the grocery store's entrance when he heard the sound of a huge crash. This immediately got Sonic's attention. He turned to the door and looked through it. Tails, who was still skipping merrily, suddenly rammed into Sonic. He fell to the ground and looked up at the hedgehog.

"Why'd we stop?" Tails asked then saw that Sonic was looking at something through the window. He got up off the ground and looked through the window as well. He was now staring at three monkeys completely demolishing the place inside the grocery store. "Uh-oh. Sonic I think they're with that Eggman guy." Tails said noticing the metal parts on the baboon doing most of the work destroying the place. Sonic didn't answer the little fox. Instead he immediately zoomed into the grocery store. Tails soon followed behind him.

"I hope that hedgehog will get the picture and show up." Ba Ba Baboon said while tossing a huge shelf at the fleeing victims.

"By hedgehog do you mean little ol' me." Sonic said from behind the baboon. Ba Ba Baboon quickly turned around and saw the blue hedgehog standing there with the biggest smile on his face imaginable.

"By order of Dr.Eggman I have no choice but to kill you in a very brutal and gut splattering way…won't that be fun!" Baboon said extending a huge cannon at Sonic and firing. Sonic immediately jumped out of the way and landed on one of the assembly lines in the aisles.

"Sure, we'll have loads of fun." Sonic said before dodging another blast form the baboon's cannon. The blast completely obliterated the assembly line in the process. Sonic landed on his feet gracefully only to be met with a huge number green energy blasts. Sonic turned around and began running around the store.

"Ah, your speed may be impressing but I have powers that will keep you regretting you have ever met Ba Ba Baboon! We'll all see you in hell very very soon!" The baboon spoke out an apparent rhyme and then slammed his feet in the hard tiles on the floor and began shouting wildly while turning his upper body half around to follow the racing hedgehog's movements like a sprinkler in your backyard. Sonic continued to run on the walls in a complete circle around the store while Ba Ba Baboon kept shouting in a circular motion to try and hit the hedgehog.

"Yeah! Go Sonic!" Tails cheered than ducked when he noticed the line of blasts were heading his way. Sonic soon jumped off the wall and did a homing attack at the baboon. The attack hit him straight across the head and knocked him out of the floor tiles. He flew across the whole store, hitting random shelves in the process, and crashed into the fish tank in the back of the store. The fish tank was much larger than any regular household fish tank plus it contained live lobsters instead of fish as well. The water poured everywhere and the live lobsters all fell to the ground. Baboon looked up and saw Sonic charging at him. He immediately grabbed one of the fallen lobsters and raised it up. Sonic than skidded to a stop.

"What are you gonna do with that? Invite me to dinner?" Sonic laughed.

"Very tempting, but I aint a cannibal. I use the lobsters as bombs you see." Baboon smiled menacingly. Suddenly the still live lobster that was squirming in his hands had a plasma green glow aurora around it. Baboon quickly launched the lobster at Sonic. Thinking as fast as ever Sonic jumped out of the way and the lobster collided with the floor and exploded. The blast was big enough to send Sonic flying across the room until he crashed yet into another shelf.

"Why am I always on the receiving end of the attack first." Sonic moaned as he watched Baboon levitate the other lobsters and blast them all one by one at Sonic. The hedgehog quickly jumped on the next shelf in the next aisle over than preceded to jump to the next and the next as more lobster bombes were thrown at him. Soon Baboon intentionally tossed one at the shelf Sonic was going to be and caused it to obliterate into small pieces. Sonic didn't prepare for this to happen so he ended up landing on his face. Before he could get up Baboon landed behind him and kicked him toward the wall.

"I just love a nice game of kick butt!" Baboon said as Sonic flew toward the wall. The hedgehog almost immediately became aware of his senses once again and turned his body around so he would end up landing gracefully against the wall, which he did.

"Nice try." Sonic merely said as Baboon shot another blast at Sonic. Sonic however quickly bounced off the wall and began jumping madly around the room, as well did Baboon. Tails watched as his idol bounced around the room with the baboon following his same movements only he was shooting green energy blasts at Sonic instead. The fox wondered what it would be like to be the hero one day. Sonic said he could even be better then him one day.

'_I wonder if…'_ Tails thought in his mind. "Sonic I'm coming!" Tails shouted as he ran toward the area where they both seemed to be headed. Tails stood in that area and watched as a blue streak flew past him. "Now!" Tails jumped up and twirled his body over. He then used his feet to launch at the green streak coming his way. Tails then increased the speed of his tails and soon his feet slammed into Baboon. Baboon fell out of the air and onto the hard tile floor. "Yeah I did it!" Tails said in excitement before Ba Ba Baboon's two robot monkey partners grabbed him and pulled him out of the air and onto the ground. Baboon then got up and walked over to the now struggling fox.

"You're lucky. I'd probably kill you if Eggman told me not to." Baboon said.

"What do you mean?" Sonic said from the right. Baboon turned to look at him angrily.

"That's none of your concern." Baboon merely stated.

"Actually it is. When your talking about my best friend it is!" Sonic did another homing attack at the baboon, which took him by surprise. Baboon was struck hard and was sent flying across the room, than landed on the ground near the entrance of the store.

"Well that's too bad because guess what, I'm not going to tell you." Baboon laughed.

"Err! Oh yeah you will." Sonic charged at Baboon than stopped when he heard police sirens.

"Well, well, I believe our time is up. Buh by." Baboon said as he suddenly jumped up in the air and was caught by his two robots. They than took him out of the store by crashing though the ceiling. Sonic stared at it for a little than noticed the police coming in. As soon as they walked in they were immediately shocked to see all of the destruction and mayhem that was caused. They then turned their attention to two figures standing in the middle of the rubble. They all quickly ran toward them when they saw who the blue one was.

"Mr. Sonic the Hedgehog are you alright?" asked one of them.

"Yeah I'm fine don't worry." Sonic said with a look of pure tiredness on his face.

_A few minutes later_

It seemed like the whole city's police force was here, considering the amount of cops that showed up at the scene. Apparently the people who had escaped the grocery store at the time of the attack called the police right away. Since they were only a few blocks away it didn't take long. Sonic and Tails were now talking to a police officer about the situation.

"So your saying it was a baboon with a metal arm/cannon, a metal leg, and a metal eye who attacked this place?" The cop asked.

"Yup. Must've been one of Eggman's pawns." Sonic said answering the officer's question. He saw the officer write something down on a note pad he was holding than looked at Tails.

"Whose child is this?" The cop asked.

"No one's, he's with me." Sonic said pointing to himself with his thumb.

"Isn't he a bit too young to be a sidekick?" The cop asked pointing the red pen at Tails.

"Trust me, age doesn't matter with this kid." Sonic said while grabbing the quiet fox and giving him a nuggie. All Tails did was smile when he did this. The officer shrugged and walked away.

"Hey Sonic, didn't he notice my two tails?" Tails asked.

"Yeah, I think he did. Why?"

"Well why didn't he hit me or yell at me."

"For the umpteenth time, you're not on that damn island anymore."

"I know…but…I'm just not used to being treated so nicely…sorry Sonic." Tails apologized.

"For what? For being young and slightly confused? You don't have to apologize to me buddy. Just make sure what I said sticks this time." Sonic said.

"Okay." Tails happily said. "Can we go get that ice cream now?" Tails asked.

"Sure lets' go." Sonic grabbed Tails' arm and they both ran off.

_That night _

"Here's your new bedroom buddy!" Sonic shouted excitedly as he opened the door and reviled a room with a bed, a dresser, and a night light at the side. "Okay it is really a useless room where I would sometimes sleep in by choice some nights but since you're here I guess I go back to having one bed again." Sonic explained. Tails was speechless. He looked around the room over and over and over again but still couldn't believe it. This was his room.

"S-Sonic…I…I…" Tails tried to speak. Tears welded up in his eyes and that's when he just lost it. The fox fell to the floor and started crying happily.

"Tails what's wrong? If you don't like it I can get your something bigger…I think." Sonic said.

"No _'sob'_ it's not that. Its just _'sob'_ I…never…this room is…thank you Sonic!" Tails jumped up, grabbed Sonic and pulled him into the hugest bear huge he had ever given.

"No…problem Tails…now could you please…let go of me…" Sonic struggled to breathe. Finally the excited fox let go of the air struggling hedgehog and decided to try out his new bed. Tails ran over to it and just plopped right on top of it. It felt great. It was so soft, so warm, so his. He had a bed, a nice, soft, and warm bed all to himself. It was all thanks to Sonic the Hedgehog, his new best friend.

"This is the greatest bed I've ever lied on…well it's the only bed I've ever lied on but it's still great."

"Huh? The only bed you've ever lied on. Didn't you have beds in that orphan place." Sonic asked completely surprised.

"Well yeah but the orphan owner lady made me sleep on the floor while the others slept in the beds. I guess she thought I wasn't worthy enough for a bed." Tails said sadly.

"Too bad she died before I could give her a piece of my mind." Sonic stated.

"Yeah…well I guess I don't really need to prove anything to her. After all I have you with me." Tails said smiling again.

"Yeah, I bet anyone would choose me over some fat orphan owning prostitute bitch anyway. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!" Sonic laughed as he put his hands behind his head and was about to exit the room.

"Hey Sonic…" Tails said. Sonic stopped and turned to face Tails.

"Yeah." Sonic merely said.

"…You didn't have to do this you know."

"I know." Sonic merely said. Tails looked up at Sonic with a slight gleam in his eyes. "But I thought you were worth it." Sonic said finally exiting the doorway. He than stepped back and touched the light switch. "You want this on or should I turn it off." Sonic asked.

"…Um…well…I…" Tails started.

"What?"

"I'm sort of afraid of the dark but…I can't get any sleep if the whole light is on." Tails said.

"No problem, that's why this night light is here." Sonic walked up to the night light at the side of the bed and switched it on. Tails immediately smiled and watched as Sonic headed back toward the door. "Good night buddy." Sonic said finally leaving.

"…Good night." Tails said lying on the nice cold pillow. He than pulled the covers over himself and turned to the side where the nightlight was on. He remembered all the events that led to this. Never once in his life did he think he could live so normal and happy. But it was finally coming true. He was living the life of a normal, happy Mobian. Tails yawned a few times before he fell asleep. He was going to have the best dream he had ever had…or so he thought.

_In a G.U.N airship hovering over the ocean_

"Sector V end route to shattered remains of Westside Island. Do you read me?" asked SmokeStack as he shouted into the communicator.

"Yes sir. On route to search and destroy any and all survivors and to gather any evidence of dark magic around the area." Replied a soldier on the other end.

"Perfect. If that two tailed fox did indeed escape the plan will work perfectly." SmokeStack said into the communicator.

"Yes sir…and that plan is?"

"Kill any and all personal who stand in my way of killing that fox!"

_Meanwhile_

Raindrops are heard in the background. Feet are stomping into small puddles. Thunder cackles in the sky. He doesn't know where he is or what's going on. He just floats there above the island looking down on those numerous amounts of people with guns in their hands. He doesn't know why they have them so he decides to follow them. Where were they going? More rain comes down and the thunder booms even louder. Something terrible was about to take place. He suddenly stops flying and decides to land. He has reached his destination.

"This place looks so familiar." He says as he walks up to the wooden house just overhead. He sees someone smash the door to the house in. That's when a flash of light brings him inside the wooden house. He looks up and sees a fox woman holding an infant. "W-what's going on?" He asked in a scared voice. That's when he saw the woman shout in sadness as the baby was taken away from her. He got up to try and stop whatever was happening from taking place but it was too late. He heard gunfire after that.

Suddenly it went dark again. He didn't know where he was. How'd he get here? What did he just see? What's going on?

"Hello Miles Prower." Said a voice from behind. He, who was now confirmed as the two tailed fox Miles Prower, turned around and faced a cloaked figure.

"Who are you? How do you know my name?" Tails asked in a frightened voice.

"I am known as Darkness."

"Darkness?" That name, there was something about that name. He didn't know what but it seemed so familiar. How can that be? He had never heard of him before.

"Yes. What you just witnessed was the dreaded truth of your past." Darkness said. This guy had a silent yet somehow loud voice that sounded neither male nor female. He didn't sound like a demon, or a monster, or any other thing. His voice sounded like…a silent nothing but a loud something. Tails took a few steps back thinking this guy was obviously dangerous.

"M-my past?" Tails said in a whimpering voice.

"Now, now, there is no reason to be afraid. I've come baring visions of the past, present, and future. In order for your right path in the life of a legendary Kitsune to be fulfilled you must first possess the power to see visions of the past while living in the present in order to choose the right future." Darkness said walking closer toward Tails.

"I don't know what you mean." Tails merely said not backing up anymore. He let Darkness approach him and grab his hand.

"Come." As soon as Darkness said that they were back in the Mystic Ruins. They were both standing in a field of nice green grass. The sun was shinning bright and Tails thought he heard the sound of laughter. Darkness let go of Tails' hand and Tails took a few steps forward and saw the people that were playing in the field. He saw Sonic tossing a frisbee toward an orange two tailed fox.

"That's me." Tails said. He saw as the fox he was looking at flew into the air and caught the frisbee. That wasn't the only people he saw. Tails looked around and saw a pink hedgehog in a red dress running toward Sonic with a cheery look on her face. He saw a red echidna laughing at Sonic as he watched the blue hedgehog get chased by the pink one. He saw a rabbit with a blue chao at her side picking flowers. He saw a purple cat with a frog on his head fishing. He saw a crocodile, a bee, and a chameleon chasing each other idiotically. And last he saw a white bat sitting with a black hedgehog on top of a hill looking down on them.

"What's this?"

"This is what will take place in your present day in time." Darkness said. Tails brought a huge smile on his face. He couldn't believe that his life was going to be this good! He was so excited, he couldn't wait for it too happen. Tails was about to run up to them to try and get a closer look at them all playing but that's when the scenery changed again. The sky immediately went blood red, the people that were playing in the field disappeared, as well as the field itself. Tails looked around and saw that they weren't in the Mystic Ruins any longer. Huge piles of ruble lied on the ground along with skeletons and corpses of dead Mobians rotting away in the cracked concrete.

"W-What happened? Where did everyone go?" Tails was as frightened as ever. No he was terrified!

"This is what will take place in the future of Mobius." Darkness said. Tails turned to him in disbelief.

"What!" Tails shouted. He looked around the totally ruined area that happened to be a city. It was Station Square. Tails couldn't believe it. He needed to know something. He hesitated than looked up at Darkness.

"…W-where's Sonic?" Tails asked in a silent voice. Darkness merely pointed toward an area behind Tails. The fox quickly rushed over to that area where Darkness pointed to and looked down. He gasped in fear when he saw it. He was now staring at the rotting corpse of his best friend, Sonic the Hedgehog. Tails backed away. Then turned to run. He ran until he rammed into Darkness and fell to the dusty ground.

"Young Miles, this is the future of your Kitusne life-style. You shall single handedly destroy Mobius and travel all across the galaxy to take control of everything. So for tells the prophecy found by the legendary Kitsune warriors and retold to this day by the infamous genius Dr.Eggman." Darkness said.

"Eggman? What does he have to do with this?" Tails asked now on the verge of tears.

"Plenty. There are others who took part in this glorious event too. You shall meet and possibly kill them on your journey to becoming a legendary Kitsune."

"But I don't want to become a legendary Kitsune. I don't want to hurt anybody either, especially Sonic." Tails whimpered again. "It won't happen. I won't let it!"

"Too bad. It has been for told." Darkness pointed up to a pile of rubble and Tails looked up when he saw that Darkness wanted him to look. Tails' eyes widened when he saw a black colored fox, with a purple aurora around him, and nine tails on his body standing on the top of the rock pile. He had a sadistic and evil look on his face. Tails was immediately scared when he saw that face.

"Who…who is that?" Tails asked nervously.

"That's you child." Darkness answered.

"What!" No that's…that's not true…you're lying…get out of my head you bad person!" Tails ran up to Darkness and started kicking at him. Every kick that was delivered seemed to accomplish nothing however.

"Stop that!" Darkness ordered. Tails immediately did what he was told, not wanting to anger this guy. "There is an energy inside of you're body known as the Star ball. It needs to fill with dark energy for this future to take place. For right now it is empty." Darkness explained.

"So. I'll just fill it up with good energy. Than I'll be a good Kitsune." Tails started to cry after he said that. "I just gotta, for Sonic."

"The prophecy doesn't state that you will become a good Kitsune. I am the messenger that was sent to make sure this prophecy will be fulfilled and that is just what will happen. In order for you to even have the slightest chance in becoming a good Kitsune is to collect the seven chaos emeralds. But as I said this probably wouldn't even help you one bit."

"I'll do it than. I'll find those emeralds. If it keeps Sonic alive."

"…Very well. Try to resist your fate as you wish. But I warn you the prophecy will be fulfilled whether you like it or not." Darkness than waved his hand up and an electric purple ball of energy formed in his hands. Tails stared at it horrified than watched as Darkness lashed it out at Tails. The fox let out a huge scream before it came even closer.

"Tails wake up! You're having a nightmare!" Sonic said while shaking the body of the screaming fox. Sonic than smacked him across the face, which he didn't like doing just one bit. The fox suddenly stopped screaming and stared out into space.

"Are you alright buddy?" Sonic asked.

"…"

"Tails?"

"…Chaos emeralds."

"Wha?"

"Chaos emeralds…we need to find those Chaos emeralds! Quickly, before I kill you in the future!" Tails shouted.

"What are you talking about?"

"Some guy named Darkness said I'd turn out to be this evil thing called a Kitsune, and that I'd kill you and everyone on Mobius. I was so scared. I heard footsteps and raindrops and gunfire and…and..." Tails was crying now. Sonic gently pulled the fox into a hug and let him cry over his shoulder. "It was so scary Sonic." Tails continued to cry.

"It'll be alright buddy." Sonic tried to comfort the poor fox but he just kept crying. They sat there for about five minutes before they both heard a huge crash from the living room.

_In the living room _

"I BA BA BABOON never fail my mission! Come on out hedgehog! I know you're here." Baboon said with his two monkey robots following him into the building. About a second later Sonic and Tails rushed into the living room and saw Ba Ba Baboon standing there with his arm cannon out. "I've come to finish my job. Prepare to die hedgehog!" Baboon said firing his cannon. Sonic grabbed Tails and quickly dodged out of the way of the attack.

"Look this is probably the worst possible time for this crap. Why don't you come back tomorrow." Sonic said.

"I could do that but…I just don't want to." Baboon said lashed another blast at Sonic. Sonic dodged every single one that was launched at him than charged at the baboon.

"You may not be a crummy robot but you will still fall down like one!" Sonic said doing a huge spin dash at the baboon. Ba Ba Baboon anticipated this and immediately pulled out a sword from his back.

"This sword was made and designed by Eggman to slice you apart even if you are doing the spin dash technique." Baboon said.

"Yeah right. Eggface has yet to come up with an invention that could hold off one of my attacks." Sonic said while nearing the baboon. Ba Ba Baboon quickly swung the sword at him and sliced Sonic's chest. The hedgehog trailed back and clutched his chest. Tails went bug eyed when he saw this. He watched as blood dripped from Sonic chest to the floor. Before Sonic could act Ba Ba baboon impaled him in the stomach with a huge punch from his metal arm. Sonic fell forward instead of backward as a means of trying to attack even though he was hurt. The blue hedgehog than fell flat on his face and didn't move.

"Now that's what I call a happy ending." Baboon said before laughing evilly. Tails stared down at Sonic's fallen body. Suddenly the visions of that dream came back. The ruined city, the evil kitsune, and worst of all the corpse of his best friend were all back. Tails stood there and clutched his fists tight. He was feeling a huge amount of anger toward that baboon. He looked down at the floor in anger as he heard the never ending taunting of that baboon go on and on. That's when Tails finally snapped.

"SHUT UP!" Tails looked up with his now blood red eyes and stared at the baboon. Unknowingly to Tails Sonic had just lifted his head up and had heard what Tails just said.

"…Did you just tell me BA BA BABOON…?"

"I SAID SHUT UP!" Tails shouted even more menacingly. "NO ONE DOES THAT TO MY BEST FRIEND AND LIVES!" Tails shouted which immediately got Sonic's attention.

'_Did Tails just say…?'_ Sonic asked in his mind.

"Ha Ha Ha Ha! That's a good one! Yo monkey bots! Take care of this dude for me." Baboon ordered. As soon as he said that the two monkey bots stepped in front of Ba Ba Baboon and held out their cannons at Tails. That's when Tails' fur turned black and he suddenly had a purple aurora around his body. Sonic couldn't believe what he was seeing. Was that dream Tails had more than just a dream? The two monkeys then all of a sudden lashed out at Tails. Tails smiled sadistically.

"Well than…lets see if you think I'm joking after this!" Tails jumped than somehow disappeared. The two monkey robots stopped than realized he was gone. Before they could act one of the monkey robots was sliced into multiple halves and than blew up. The other monkey robot was completely taken by surprise when that happened and turned to run the other way, however was attacked by Tails who reappeared in front of him again. This time Tails launched himself straight through the robot's center, which destroyed him instantly. Ba Ba Baboon stared in amazement as well as Sonic. When the smoke cleared their stood the same black fox only this time his red pupils were gone. His eyes were clear white now. Tails than started to walk closer to Ba Ba Baboon. "You're next." Tails said in a spiteful voice.

"Hold on. You can't do to me what you did to those robots. Unlike them I actually have bones, blood and organs in my body." The scared baboon said backing up.

"Of course I can you fool. The only difference is that there will be a much bigger mess!" Tails launched himself at the baboon and sliced though the baboon's stomach with ease. He than kicked the baboon in the air and jumped up. There he started to slash at his body wildly until blood was splattered all across the floor. Sonic stared at the scene for a while until he saw what was left of Ba Ba Baboon fall from the ceiling to the floor in a huge steaming pile of torn up flesh. Tails landed in front of the Baboons remains then his black fur disappeared. Sonic stood up, ignoring his own pain, and caught the now orange fox that was covered with blood as he fell over. Sonic lied him down on the ground and shook him slightly.

"Tails. Are you awake?" Sonic asked. Tails flickered his eyes open and saw the worried hedgehog hovering over him.

"I…I think so." Tails merely said.

"How'd you do that?" Sonic asked in amazement.

"How'd I do what?" Tails asked back.

"You mean you don't remember?"

"I remember seeing Ba Ba Baboon here than nothing. I must've fainted or something." Tails said than looked at his body. "W-why am I covered with blood!" Tails said starting to freak out.

"It's okay Tails." Sonic reassured. _'This is impossible. A four-year-old fox just shredded a monkey with robot parts into a million pieces and he doesn't remember a thing. What is happening here?' _Sonic thought as he picked the fox up and began to carry him toward the bathroom. This was truly a bloodshed day.

_Hope you liked this chapter as much as I did. Boy I can't wait till I figure out how to write down what happens next. Review and come back to find out._


	8. Chapter 8

_AH! Damn homework! Oh well, I'm back now. Thank you all for the reviews! I'm at chapter 7 and already have 50 reviews. Awesome! Keep them coming and I'll keep going. Next chapter is here!_

**Chapter 7: Wanted fox**

"Bull crap!" Rouge said slamming the newspaper article she was reading on Big's coffee table. "It 12:00 at night and I still haven't seen Eggman pass by here. Plus there is nothing in the newspaper about any recent confrontations with the chaos emeralds. How am I suppose to find them if I don't have any leads?" Rouge shouted in frustration as she slumped on the torn couch in Big's hut. Just than the cat in question came in with a tray of drinks for the two of them. He sat down in the chair across from her than drank his own and set the tray on the coffee table.

"Are you okay Ms. Rouge?" Big asked while setting his cup down.

"Huh…oh yeah I'm fine…listen…thanks for going along with this. I hope I'm not being to…you know…domestic." Rouge stuttered. Big took another sip.

"Nope." He merely said. Rouge didn't exactly know what he meant so she disregarded it. She than looked around Big's hut. '_He was lucky to actually be living in the Mystic Ruins other than Westside Island. I bet he must have visited the island in order to fish for more disgusting sea creatures.' _Rouge thought in her head. She than heard a familiar 'ribbit' come from in front of her and cautiously turned to see Big's frog sitting on the coffee table while staring at Rouge blankly. _'Like that one over there…I wonder if frogs are considered sea creatures…oh well, what do I care?'_

"Here." Big said holding out a newspaper toward Rouge. Rouge stared at it for a while before finally saying something.

"What is it?" She asked.

"It's something that might help you." Big said while handing the paper to Rouge. Rouge examined the paper and began reading.

"Lets see it says _'Come and ride on the nautical sea ride that's got every rich aristocrat jumping with glee. A cruise sail on the S.S Kraken will take place on March 3rd that will sail toward the vast plains of the Seaside Hill, and will have a hotel waiting for the aristocrats. We are said to sail over the spot where there was sightings of a floating Island, known as Angel Island, hovering over the ocean. Legend said one last member of the Echidna tribe is guarding a huge gem known as the Master Emerald up there. It was said to have mystical powers like the chaos emeralds our local hero, Sonic the Hedgehog, is always using to foil Dr. Eggman's plans. Shipmates may get a change to look up at the sky and spot this island if they are lucky. Only rich aristocrats can attend this cruise. If you are not in this category than you must stay away from the ship.'_" Rouge read. "I can't believe it! I bet if I can get my hands on that gem I can use it to track down the other emeralds!" Rouge said excitedly. "Pack your bags Big! We're going on a cruise!"

"But we're not rich." The cat said.

"That's the beauty of it. The paper says not to go if we're not rich and we do it anyway." Rouge smiled.

_The egg fortress_

"Dr. Eggman, what are you doing?" Bokkun asked. He watched as his boss fumbled through his took-kit. He had been working on these two individual robots for some time now and it seemed he was getting a little slow on his work.

"I'm building two commander robots. Ones that can monitor my schedule and the rest of my robots. It 's taking longer than usual to build them because these robots need to have personality and their own minds. Just like Metal does." Eggman said. _'Metal Sonic…he's been in that hanger for hours now…what is that scheming robot up to?' _Eggman shook the thought from his head and continued working. After he connected the last wire he than closed their chest compartments which immediately activated them.

"Are they ready?" Bokkun asked.

"Yup." Eggman said while he saw the gold and silver robots stand up and salute their creature.

"E-001 Decoe here." Said the gold one.

"And E-002 Bocoe here." Said the silver one.

"Reporting for duty." They both blurted out in unison.

"Bokkun, meet Bocoe and Decoe." Eggman instructed while leading Bokkun toward them. Bokkun stared at them for a while unsure they knew he was there.

"What ever it is you need we'll…is that a fly?" Decoe asked lowering his salute and staring at Bokkun. Bokkun raised an eyebrow of confusion.

"It is a fly! Lets get it!" Bocoe said pulling a flyswatter out of nowhere. Decoe did the same thing. Bokkun immediately freaked out and flew away from them.

"Come back here you!" Decoe said as the both chased the scared Bokkun around the room in a circle. Eventually Bokkun flew in the air as a means of escaping. This unexpected act caused Bocoe and Decoe to crash into each other and fall on the ground. Eggman stared at the two in disbelief.

'_What are the consequences of what I've just done?'_ Eggman asked in his mind as all three of them began to argue.

_Back in the Mystic Ruins_

Sonic sat over his bathtub as he tried cleaning down the blood-covered fox. He couldn't believe what he just witnessed. A kid his age actually took down a half-robot in under 5 seconds! It was truly amazing. What scared Sonic however was the fact that he killed the baboon in such a horrific way. And what's even more disturbing is that the kid doesn't even remember doing it. Sonic pondered this for a second than saw the fox crying in the tub.

"Tails…are you alright?" Sonic asked a little worried.

"…How did all this blood get on me?" Tails turned to face the hedgehog with a look of pure confusion and terror on his face. "Is it that baboon's blood?" Tails wondered.

"I…….uh, yeah…it is. It must've gotten on you when it splattered everywhere."

"Why did it splatter everywhere?" Tails asked still confused. Sonic was trying to think of something to say to this fox about what happened without mentioning that he actually killed the baboon.

"Um…he…uh…?" Sonic couldn't think of anything. His thoughts were to clouded by the fact that something like that actually did happen.

"…Did you kill him?" Tails asked in a scared voice. Sonic looked down at the frightened fox. He was on the verge of more tears. Sonic smiled weakly and then thought of an idea.

"No. Of course not. Those two robots guys he had betrayed him and attacked him. After that I destroyed them both." Sonic lied. Tails stared at Sonic still confused.

"Than how come I don't remember it than?" Tails asked.

'_You're killing me with these questions kid.' _Sonic thought. "Because you fainted when you saw the baboon, okay." Sonic merely said.

"I did? I don't…remember." Tails all of a sudden saw visions in his head. The female fox holding the infant, the ear splitting scream, a familiar chuckle, the gunfire, and the sight of a burning hut were clouding his mind. Tails grasped his head in pain and fumbled around in the bathtub. Sonic grabbed the fox's shoulders and tried to calm him down but it wasn't working.

"Tails calm down!" Sonic said while still shaking the screaming fox. Eventually Tails stopped squirming around and slumped into the bathtub. He shot his eyes open and saw Sonic…covered in blood from head to toe! Tails screamed again and shut his eyes to hide the scary sight. Sonic shook him some more. "Tails stop screaming! Open your eyes! It's me Sonic, remember?" Sonic kept shacking the fox until Tails was tempted to look at his idol again. The blood was gone. Sonic was his true-blue self again. Tails sighed in relief as Sonic pulled the fox out of the tub. He then rapped a towel around the shivering fox to help dry him off.

"Sonic…I keep thinking about that dream I had last night…it's scary Sonic." Tails explained actually starting to cry this time.

"Nightmares are always scary Tails, but they are just dreams." Sonic reassured.

"Not this one…some guy in a black robe told me I was going to be something called a kitsune and I was going…to kill…you." Tails burst out in a loud bombardment of tears. Sonic pulled the poor fox into a hug, despite the fact that he was in a wet towel, to try and comfort him.

"Hey Hey, don't cry anymore. Come on. Lets' get back to bed." Sonic said. Tails slowly nodded and walked out of the bathroom with Sonic. Sonic dried the little fox off and eventually put him back to bed. After he left Tails' room he walked down the hall to his room as a means of wanting to get as much sleep as he could possibly muster. The hedgehog walked into his room and climbed into his bed, thinking today's events were over.

"Well today was fun. I wonder if that kid has ever been to a doctor. He's probably been. If not I really need to get him there. If he hasn't had any of his examines, or check ups, or shots…oh crap. Shots!" Sonic shot up from his bed a little worried. "I know how kids hate shots! Their probably going to need a blood sample from him as well. I know from experience the shots don't hurt, but the blood sample extraction does. Oh well." Sonic lied his head back down on the pillow and closed his eyes. "I'll worry about that tomorrow." Sonic said then heard a sound coming from in front of his bed. The hedgehog raised his head up and looked forward. He saw the sad looking fox he just put to bed standing there while fiddling with his hands. "Tails? What is it?" Sonic asked. Tails looked at his feet and than at Sonic, a little embarrassed.

"Um, I'm a little scared…can I…sleep…with you tonight." Tails hesitated. Sonic blinked then smiled warmly.

"Of course buddy. What are friends for?" Sonic said as he scooted over and patted an area for Tails to sleep in. Tails happily jumped on the bed and dug underneath the covers. He than poked his head out and scooted into a comfy position next to Sonic.

"Thanks Sonic." Tails said in gratitude.

"No problem." Sonic said as he lied back down to sleep again. In a few minutes Sonic was sleeping lightly while Tails lied there awake, deep in thought.

"...I wonder if…that woman in my dream…"

_The next day_

"WHAT! DOCTOR! Hang Nail told me about that place. He said the doctor cuts you open and drains all your blood. Then replaces it with melted cheese! Then he pulled out a huge sword and stabs you with it and says it suppose to help make you feel better, BUT IT DOESN'T! Please don't make me go!" Tails whined while being pulled into the doctor's office.

"Tails, why'd you listen to that idiot?" Sonic asked. Tails stared at Sonic blankly. He himself didn't know the answer to that. However Tails still didn't want to go.

"Um…because…please don't make me go." Tails begged again.

"Sorry buddy but we need to make sure your healthy." Sonic rung the bell on the counter. Eventually they were both greeted by a female nurse.

"How can I help you…oh my god…you're Sonic the Hedgehog!" the nurse cried with excitement. "What can I do you for?" She said in a now giddy voice.

"Uh, yeah, I'm here to have my friend vaccinated." Sonic explained.

"Okay well come over here and let's get the kids information down." The nurse said. Sonic nodded and followed her. Tails stood there pouting when he heard a kid his same age pass by him.

"Look mommy, it's a freaky fox." The kid said while being dragged away by his mother. Tails sighed when he heard this.

"…Sonic said I'm not a freak…so shut up." Tails whispered to no one.

_In the nurse's office_

"Okay let's get started." The nurse said pulling out a clipboard. "Name?" she asked.

"Sonic the Hedgehog." Sonic answered.

"No I mean the fox's name."

"Oh, Miles Prower."

"Okay. Parents names?"

"…Uh…"

"What's wrong?"

"Well he doesn't really have…"

"I'm sorry but, if you don't supply me with the parent's name than I can't take him in." She explained.

"Wait! He has parents. Uh…their names are…uh…" Sonic looked around the room and spotted a pencil. "…uh…pencil-a…pencila and uh…" Sonic spotted a picture of a kid with chicken pox on the wall. "…Pencila Chickenpox, yeah that's it. That's his mother's name." Sonic said worriedly. The nurse's eyebrow raised and she blinked a few times before speaking again.

"I thought you said his last name was Prower?" The nurse asked.

"I did…and it is…because he was adopted…by humanoid pencils...that were covered in chickenpox." Sonic smiled weirdly. The nurse just stared at him in confusion. After an hour of this so called information giving, Tails met the doctor and was asked to take his shoes and socks off and get on the hospital bed.

"If you're going to stuff me with cheese, could you make it cheddar?" Tails asked. The doctor blinked then turned to look at Sonic. Sonic shrugged and let the doctor continue his work.

"The first thing we need to do is get a blood sample." The doctor pulled out a titanium tray with a bunch of hospital tools and instruments on it. However one tool caught Tails' attention the most.

"AH! NEEDLE!" Tails tried to get up but Sonic rushed over and held him down.

"Tails don't worry! It's going to be okay." Sonic tried to reassure.

"That's easy for you to say!" Tails shouted.

"I know it is but it's true. It may hurt a little bit when extracting blood but it will turn out okay. I promise." Sonic said. Tails all of a sudden stopped wiggling. He looked at Sonic then at the doctor's needle and than back at Sonic.

"Are…are you sure." Tails asked. Sonic gave him a thumbs up signaling he was sure. Tails sighed then calmed all the way down.

"Okay, first of all, Tails, I'm going to need you to hold out your hand and curl it up into a fist so I can see your vain." The doctor stated. Tails did what he was told. "Okay now Tails, this might hurt a little going in and a little more coming out but trust me, it will all be worth it." The doctor said. Tails sighed again and turned to look at Sonic. Sonic smiled and winked. Tails merely nodded. The fox looked away as the needle was injected into the vain in his arm. He hissed at the small amount of pain but held his ground. Tails didn't even notice the needle coming out when it did. That's when Tails felt a much worse pain then before. It appears that the needle hurts more coming out then going in. After a couple more minutes of stingy pain in his arm the doctor finally put a cotton swab on the injected area and held it down with a huge melon colored band-aid patch.

"That wasn't so bad was it?" Sonic said as he saw a few tears escape the fox's eyes, but nothing serious.

"Nope. I'm a strong fox." Tails said with a huge amount of boldness in his voice.

"You sure are buddy." Sonic chuckled. The doctor soon came over and showed them 3 small tubes filled with Tail's blood.

"Well now, we're all set for the next part of the phase." The doctor said. After Tails got his shot and he gave the doctor a urine sample (which Tails thought was really gross by the way), the two of them headed for the mall. Sonic knew this great food court and he thought the fox deserved to be rewarded for being so brave. They soon entered the huge mall and walked around the place looking for the food court.

"Hey Sonic, is that it?" Tails pointed toward a food court with a long line that extended out of the doors and into the hallway.

"Yeah, but it looks like we're a little too late for the early bird special." Sonic said walking up to the line.

"I thought we were getting chilidogs not birds." Tails said a little discusted.

"We are. No way I'm eating a bird. Come on." Sonic said to Tails who was still in the same spot. Tails eventually ran up to him in order to get in line.

"Hey Jeb, look." Said a police officer.

"What is it Ronald?" The other police officer named Jeb asked.

"That fox over there has two tails." Ronald said.

"So."

"So? What kind of a cop are you? It's obvious that tail is fake. Look at it. It's probably being used to stash shop lifted items."

"What? That's insane. I know being a mall cop isn't as glamorous as being a respected police officer but you can't just go up to people and accuse them of being shoplifters just because you want to see some action." Jeb warned.

"Ah what do you know? I used to be a real good police officer who has dealt with these kinds of things before. Trust me, he's hiding something in that tail of his." Ronald said walking over to the fox. He approached him and grabbed him by the tail. Tails felt this and before he could see who it was he was lifted in the air by the cop.

"Sonic!" Tails shouted loud enough for everyone to here. Everyone nearby heard the blue hero's name being blurted out and turned to face their direction. Sonic turned around to see the cop holding his friend in mid air.

"Hey! You let him go, now!" Sonic commanded.

"Sorry Mr. Sonic the Hedgehog, can't do that. Not until I find what he has in this tail of his." Ronald said reaching in the fur of Tails' tail until he touched something. "Well, well, what do we have here?" The cop pulled out a small key chain with a small price tag on it as well. Everyone gasped, including Sonic.

"Tails!" Sonic scolded.

"…I'm sorry Sonic, I just tried to get you something nice…and besides I always did this on Westside Island to survive…I didn't know it was bad." Tails explained.

"A likely story." Said Ronald.

"Put him down officer! Tails didn't know what he did was wrong." Sonic demanded again.

"Oh please! I've dealt with shoplifters before and they always say they didn't know it was wrong. Ha! Damn liars."

"No really, I didn't know it was bad. Since I had to do it all the time on Westside Island I…" Tails began before the officer hit him across the head with a club. Ronald then let the now bleeding fox go and he fell to the floor with a thud.

"Oh no, Tails! You bastard!" Sonic said to the officer before he was met with a club in the face. The hedgehog was taken by surprise so he fell to the ground in pain not exactly knowing what had happened. That was when Jeb ran over and grabbed his partner's arm.

"See Ronald! This is why you got demoted! You always attack people without following regulations!" Jeb tried to hold back his partner. The whole crowd was in complete awe as they watched the scene take place. Soon Ronald stopped struggling and sighed in frustration.

"…You're right." Ronald looked down at the hedgehog who was standing back up from the ground in complete annoyance and anger. "Listen…hedgehog…I…"

"Forget about it." Sonic mumbled in slight resentment as he kneeled down to comfort the now crying fox. "I've dealt with officers like you before…confused in the head dipstick officers who take the law way to seriously to realize what they were doing was wrong. But…I'm not going to hold it against you." Sonic reassured. "You all right little buddy." Sonic asked Tails who all of a sudden immediately stopped crying. He heard a grimace of anger come from Tails as the dark purple aurora formed around him again. "Uh oh." Sonic mumbled. The hedgehog got up and turned to face the crowd. "Everybody run! Now!" Sonic shouted. No one moved an inch. They didn't see why they had to. That's when Tails arose to his feet.

"YOU!" Tails said in a demonic voice while pointing at the police officer. The officer saw the blood shot eyes and the aurora around the fox and stepped back in fear. "YOU'RE GOING TO PAY FOR THIS!" Tails shouted as his pupils disappeared and his fur turned black. The fox then, without warning, lunged at Ronald with amazing speed. He tried to run away but couldn't even turn the other way before Tails used his tremendous speed to slice him in half! Blood splattered everywhere as Tails kept slicing the already dead officer in halves. When he stopped he landed in front of the mess he created and looked at Jeb. The scared officer pulled out his gun and pointed it at Tails. The crowd didn't even think of staying around to see what happened next. Everyone began running around the mall for their lives.

"Quickly! Someone call the police! I'll hold him down." Jeb kept his gun out, which was now shacking from fear. Since the police weren't far from here Sonic knew they would be here pretty quick. He had to try and stop this before it got to out of hand.

"Tails! Snap out of it!" Sonic yelled as a means of calming him down. The fox said nothing. Instead he growled then charged at Jeb. The scared police officer immediately fired when he saw the fox coming at him. The bullet Tails in the chest. "Tails!" Sonic ran up to the fox who had fallen to the floor right after it hit. Jeb lowered the gun thinking he had succeeded.

"…I'm sorry…" Was all he said. Sonic looked at the officer than back at Tails and began shacking him. The aurora all of a sudden grew bigger as Sonic shook him. The hedgehog sensed something bad and immediately backed away from the fox, who was now rising to his feet. Both Sonic and the officer were stunned by this action. Jeb no longer thought it was safe to stick around. He put his gun back and turned to run. However when he turned around he saw the black fox standing there with a horrible demonic grin on his face.

"Leaving so soon? We were having so much fun together. Now it's my turn to see if I can kill you!" Tails said as his sharp claws burst out of the tips of his gloves, which left huge holes in them. He then jammed his sharps claws into the officer's arm. He shouted out loud in the hugest amount of pain imaginable as the claws went through his arm and came out the other side. Sonic just stared at the scene in complete shock. An hour ago he was complaining about getting cheese stuffed in his body and now he was murdering a police officer in the most brutal way Sonic thought imaginable.

"Please…stop! AHHHHH!" The officer cried out in tremendous pain and agony.

"Stop? You shoot me in the chest and expect me to stop! Hahahahahaha! I'll tell you what I will do, I'll relief you of some useless weight." Tails pulled hard on his claws toward an eastern direction. The officer screamed even louder before Tails tore the man's arm straight off. After doing so Tails extended his claws and began slicing up the officer, killing him instantly. Tails stood over the gooey mess and looked in the direction the crowd of people were headed. He smiled evilly then chased after them with incredible speed.

"Tails." Sonic just mumbled. He then shook his head and snapped back to the real world and realized he had to stop his friend. Sonic turned toward the hallway where Tails proceeded to run down and then followed him using his own incredible speed. Tails went down the hall, slaughtering everyone that came in his path, while Sonic tried his best to stop him, but to no avail. Eventually, after about 15 minutes, the police, as well as a couple of G.U.N robots (think Big Foot and Hot Shot from Sonic Adventure 2 Battle) had the building surrounded and were now screaming in their megaphone's for people to come out or they would go in. When no one came out they did in fact go inside.

"Come on Sonic. Is that the best you can do?" Tails asked killing another woman with his claws then proceeding to run. Sonic caught up with the woman who lied dead on the floor, stared at her slightly, than kept running even faster than before.

"I'm not going to let anyone else die!" Sonic said as he watched Tails approach a little girl about his age. Sonic quickly jumped in the air, did a summersault over Tails and landed in front of the girl. Tails was taken by surprise when this happened and ended up crashing into Sonic. The two fell back then rolled sideways down an escalator that happened to be right by them. The escalator was going down so they hit the ground pretty quickly. Sonic stood up and looked down at the fox. His fur was yellow-orange again, the purple aurora was gone, and his claws were back to normal. Sonic sighed in relief as the fox stood up in confusion. Tails gasped when he saw his fur covered in blood again.

"Sonic! What happened? I'm bloody all over again!" Tails was completely freaked out and scared. The fear increased for both of them when they heard guns cocking in front of them. The turned to see many police officers with their rifles out, pointed directly at Tails, but not at Sonic.

"Don't move fox!" Shouted one of the police officers. Tails didn't move at all, he was too confused and scared to do anything. "Now put your hands in the air and get on the ground!" He ordered again. Tails hesitated for a moment until the officer shouted at him again. "Do it now!"

"Hold it!" Sonic said walking in front of Tails.

"Get out of the way hedgehog! This is strictly business. We got all call a few minutes ago that there was an orange two tailed freak killing everyone in the building!"

'_Man I wish the police station wasn't so close.'_ Sonic thought angrily.

"Since he is the only fox here with two tails, orange fur, and blood all over his body than it must be him!" He said. Tails gasped than turned to Sonic.

"Did…did...I…kill…somebody?" Tails asked completely terrified. Sonic looked at Tails with uncertainty.

'_Should I tell him or not?'_ The question rang like a bell inside of Sonic's head back and forth until he heard the police officer shout again.

"I'm going to ask you again, and if you don't move, we'll shoot." The officer stated.

'_I work my ass off to do these idiots their jobs for them and they turn on me? Where's the love these days?'_ The hedgehog thought grievingly.

"Three…" The officer counted. Sonic stood his ground, as well as Tails, who actually felt like he was going to faint all of a sudden. "…Two…" Sonic got into a fighting stance while Tails stood there still worried. He wasn't about to let anyone harm any of his friends, even if he did kill innocent people. "…One." As soon as the officer said that all the officers immediately started firing. Sonic quickly grabbed the fox and jumped over the line of bullets being shot. The hedgehog then crashed through the window behind the police officers and landed on his feet. After that he put Tails in a baby holding position and proceeded to run down the road.

"F-6t Big Foot and B-3x Hot Shot, ATTACK!" The officers on the outside told the two green, red, and yellow colored robots with long legs. The robots hopped off the ground and curled their legs up while in the air. Jets soon came from the bottom of their feet and they took off after Sonic and Tails. Sonic kept running as fast as he could toward the direction where the city's exit was but those robots seemed to be catching up fast. Sonic ran past cars and people trying to get away from them but they just kept coming. Eventually they shot missiles at the hedgehog and fox. Sonic turned his head and saw this coming so he quickly jumped in the air and landed on top of the missile, which instead of hitting the street, flew in the air. Sonic looked down and saw that they were rising in the air. That's when he saw more missiles above him and he decided to use them to his advantage. Sonic did a mega jump to the next missile in the air, than the next, and the next, until he was on the last one. When he jumped off the last one all the missiles he was on collided with the previous one he was on and created a huge explosion. The explosion caused Sonic to fly farther into the sky and accidentally let go of Tails.

"Sonic!" Tails screamed as he plummeted to the Earth. The wind his tails were picking up were too great for him to fly. He would die if Sonic didn't rescue him.

"Tails!" Sonic shouted than quickly put his hands at his side and tried shooting his body downward toward Tails' direction. He eventually caught up with the fox and grabbed his hand. "Don't worry buddy, I won't let you die." Sonic reassured him, which made the fox smile. Sonic pulled Tails in the position he was in before and landed on a roof. The blue hedgehog than continued running and occasionally jumped to a different building when needed.

"Thanks Sonic." Tails thanked clearly joyful that the hedgehog would still stick by him even though he was getting him in a lot of trouble with the police.

"Don't thank me yet Tails, look beside me." Sonic said. Tails did so and saw F-6t Big Foot on his right side than turned to see B-3x Hot Shot on his left side.

"Uh oh, what are we gonna do Sonic?" Tails asked even more worried then before. Sonic turned to his left and saw B-3x Hot Shot unfold one of his legs and prepare it for a kick. Sonic didn't have time to think as it came his way. He tossed the little fox in the air as the huge metal foot connected with his cheek. The blast sent him crashing against F-6t Big Foot on the other side. The hedgehog then saw a missile heading toward him and the robot. Sonic quickly jumped on Big Foot's top and jumped to Hot Shot's top, letting the missile destroy Big Foot in the process. Sonic then caught the little fox as he came toward him and slammed his foot on Hot Shot's top. His foot pierced through the metal and caused a short circuit. The robot crashed into a building as Sonic jumped off his head and kept running on the buildings. Tails was now on Sonic's back in piggyback style. Tails turned and saw the robot crash and explode then sighed with a huge amount of relief. That's when they both heard police sirens below them.

"Hedgehog and fox suspects, surrender now!" A police officer shouted in a huge megaphone.

"Kiss my hedgehog ass you so called 'crime fighters'." Sonic said while picking up speed.

"Send in the R-1/A Flying Dog robot." Said the police officer to his partner as he got back into the car.

"Rodger." Said the other officer as he turned on his walkie-talkie. "Send in the Flying Dog, over." He said. Behind them a huge truck that said G.U.N on it opened it's roof and out flew the Flying Dog. This robot looked like the other two but it had no legs and was equipped with a lot more cannons and guns. The machine immediately flew toward Sonic and Tails and began shooting. Sonic dodged every shot easily but didn't expect it to send out a homing missile. The missile shot toward Sonic quicker then Sonic expected it to. Sonic was about to dodge it when he suddenly tripped over the edge of the building he was on. He was paying so much attention to the battle he forgot to look where he was going and fell off the roof. The missile followed the hedgehog and fox as they fell toward the ground.

"Don't worry Sonic! I'll save you this time!" Tails clutched Sonic's arms then twirled his tails. The fox quickly moved out of the way of the missile and flew up. Since the missile was in between an ally way it didn't have enough room to turn around and fly back up, thus in crashed and exploded.

"Thanks Tails." Sonic said.

"Don't thank me yet Sonic." Tails said mimicking Sonic's words. Sonic chuckled when he heard this then realized the Flying Dog was charging at them. It crashed into Sonic and Tails hard. Tails flew slightly in the air but used his tails to stop. Sonic however flew toward the sky high and far in the air. He than reached into his glove and pulled out a small golden ring. The ring grew bigger when Sonic clutched it and all of a sudden Sonic turned into his ball form and shot himself down at the Flying Dog. He crashed straight through the machine, which instantly destroyed it. The hedgehog bounced off the road and flew back into the air. He than got out of his ball form, grabbed Tails as he neared him, and landed on another building. He than proceeded to run a different direction out of the city.

"I love it when I destroy robots. It's so much fun." Sonic chuckled.

"Wow Sonic! That was cool." Tails said in excitement.

"Yeah it was wasn't it?" Sonic agreed. The hedgehog's smile then faded as he remembered what he saw Tails do in that mall. He looked down and saw Tails still covered in blood. He sighed then continued running. Whatever was happening, it was a turn for the worst.

"What are we going to do now Sonic?" Tails asked the hedgehog. Sonic refocused back to Tails then answered.

"Go anywhere the wind takes us pal." Sonic answered as they headed for the highway.

_Unknown area _

"The kitsune's star ball energy is being filled with dark energy. Excellent. Now the events listed on my scrolls will take place one by one leading toward the future. If everything goes even better than I suspected then the fox might even skip that horrid looking present he is supposed to have." Said Darkness as he stared at Sonic and Tails running out of the city from afar.

_Central City: one day later_

"Man I just love Crush 40 songs! Don't you Charmy?" A green 16-year-old crocodile asked a 2-year-old bee, who was sucking his foot playfully. The bee took his foot out of his mouth and laughed cutely. "I'll take that as a yes." The crocodile said turning off his headphones that played the Crush 40 song 'Live and Learn'. That's when he heard the sound of struggling enter the room.

"Vector…why the hell am I your messenger boy all of a sudden." Asked a 12-year-old Chameleon as he dragged a huge stack of newspapers into the office.

"Not messenger boy Espio, info collector." Vector corrected.

"Sounds like the same damn job to me." Espio whined.

"Lets see what you got." Vector walked up to the stack of papers and tossed aside the useless ones he saw. The papers being tossed all landed on top of Charmy, who shouted happily as they fell on him.

"Yay, yay! Rain, rain." Charmy shouted happily as more newspapers rained on top of him.

"What is this crap?" Vector asked reading the headlines of the papers. " '_Man died from eating too much honey'_, nope, _'Is polka music destroying the O-zone layer'_, what?, _'New skin cream made from toad mucus'_." Vector read. Espio stuck out his tongue in disgust when he heard the last part. "This is all bull crap!" Vector complained.

"It's all I could find." Espio said.

"No! We haven't had a lick of business since that time we stacked out that McDonalds restaurant to see if the fake Ronald McDonald manikin had a guy inside it who would steal money from the cash register at night."

"I'm still amazed there was." Espio said.

"Now's not the time to be amazed! Now's the time for action…and being amazed."

"What action Vector?" Espio asked.

"The kind you get money for idiot. We need something big to work with, something huge, something so horribly gigantic that…"

"Sonic Hedgehog." Cried Charmy from under the pile of newspapers.

"Huh?" asked Vector as he walked over to the stack of papers and pulled them off until there was one particular newspaper over Charmy's eyes.

"Is Sonic Hedgehog!" Charmy said again. Vector took the paper off Charmy's head and looked at it. There he saw a picture of Sonic the Hedgehog carrying a two-tailed fox on his back. The headline read_ 'Hedgehog hunt'_. The title intrigued Vector so he began reading. There was a silence for about a minute before Vector shouted.

"JACKPOT!" Vector shouted startling both Espio and Charmy. "Charmy, you're a genius!" Vector said excitedly as he picked up the happy 2-year-old bee and swung him around.

"Hey! I found the newspaper article!" Espio said.

"Right, sorry. I'm just so excited that I've found a real case. Sonic the hedgehog is at large! If we find him then we'll be rolling in dough." Vector said excited.

"Cookie." Charmy said happily.

"No, not cookie dough Charmy." Espio reassured.

C'mon boys, let's go!" Vector took no time to leave as he rushed out the door with Charmy buzzing from behind. Espio stood there, sighed, and then walked after them.

"Oh what fresh hell is this we're getting into?' Espio asked himself.

_Sorry to keep you waiting for a week. I will try and update sooner. Until next time America or whatever country you're in. _


	9. Chapter 9

_Here is another chapter of my fox story. I did only get 4 reviews last time but who cares. I like writing this story too much._

**Chapter 8: The Mortal Slicer**

"Commander SmokeStack, we've got reports from the Station Square police department that Sonic and the fox are headed toward Central City!" A solider said walking in nervously.

"Very good." Smoke merely stated.

"Should we send in a G.U.N quadrant to stop them?"

"Yes…but not yet." Smoke said while closing his eyes and seemingly counting minutes in his head. The confused soldier stood there for a second wondering what he meant but then decided to leave while he still had the chance. Smoke looked at his direction wondrously. _'Your mine fox.' _He thought.

_Central City tool booth entrance: 9:00 am_

Sonic carried Tails on his back while heading toward the tool booth leading toward the city entrance up ahead.

"You ready Tails?" Sonic asked turning to the slightly worried fox. Tails looked at Sonic's confident face and nodded. "All right. Here we go!" Sonic dramatically increased speed and jumped over the whole tool booth. When he landed he immediately started to dart for the city, unaware of the small camera orb robot filming their actions.

_Egg fortress: same time_

"Ha! They've entered Central City! Perfect! Now it's time to test this fox's true ability." Eggman said pressing a small button on his control panel. Once he did a shadowy face came up and stared down at them.

"What can I do for you Eggman." Asked the figure.

"Their heading for your domain. You know what to do."

"Right. I'll take them out, secretly and stealthily of course."

"Be careful and don't underestimate them. Ba Ba Baboon in the Station Square domain was killed in nothing flat by that fox."

"Don't worry about him. I'll get him to a certain place under the city then I'll kill him nice and slow. Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!" The figure laughed then turned off his communication with Eggman.

"Good, you kill him nice and slow." Eggman smiled at the blank T.V monitor.

_Central City: 9:05 am_

Sonic and Tails were now in the huge city of Central. Sonic was feeling a little uneasy however. He knew there was a list of the FBI's top ten dangers that contained the most senile and evil people in the world. He also knew one of them was here. He wondered how anyone could live so peacefully knowing there was a dangerous killer somewhere in this city. Before he could keep processing this he crashed into something. Sonic fell backward and Tails fell off his back. They both hit the ground hard.

"Ow! Sonic?" Tails complained.

"Sorry Tails." Sonic looked forward and saw a purple chameleon rubbing his head on the ground. Sonic got up and offered him his hand. The chameleon accepted it and got up as well. "Sorry about that, we're just in a hurry to get somewhere." Sonic said knowing they had nowhere to go.

"Oh really?" The chameleon asked

"Well sort of. I'm just a little worried we won't have a place to rest at since we have no money with us."

Well if you need a place to stay I'm sure my boss wouldn't mind if you stayed at the office for a while." Said the chameleon.

"Really. Thanks. So what's your name?"

"Espio. Espio the Chameleon."

"Nice to meet you Espio. Come on Tails lets go." Sonic helped Tails off the ground and walked forward with Espio. Espio smiled successfully as he heard his boss speak in the small communication device in his ear.

"_Great job Espio. Now we can turn him over to the police as soon as I call them." _Vector said excitedly.

"I just hope they show up. I bet they wouldn't even take a glance at us after what you did last time to get the police there.

"_Really now? Well I thought it was a nice complicated plan if I do say so myself."_

"What plan? You drew a face on a sponge then stuck it on a stick then claimed it was a burglar."

"_I still can't believe they didn't fall for it_."

"Vector, a dead frog wouldn't fall for it." Espio then turned off his communicator and continued walking with Sonic and Tails.

_Later that day_

"Well I know it's not much but here it is." Espio showed them the dirty and cluttered office. Sonic looked around and turned his attention to the small bee playing with a small red ball sitting on the couch.

"Is your boss that bee's father?" Sonic asked.

"No. Vector found him crying in the ruins of a destroyed building about a year ago. Reports from the attack say both his parents were dead." Espio explained. Tails frowned when he heard that. He knew how it felt not to have parents.

"That's so sad." Tails mumbled.

"I know. We also found out that he was the only survivor of the attack. Both me and Vector thought it was a miracle." Espio said while turning to the bee who had just dropped the ball on the floor. Espio walked over, picked it up, and gave it back to him. The bee threw the ball behind him and smiled.

"Espio!" Charmy said while grabbing Espio face and hugging it. The chameleon tried to get him off but it felt like he was glued there or something. Suddenly Charmy crawled onto Espio's pointed head and sighed in comfort. That's when Espio sighed in frustration.

"God I'm not good with kids." Espio whined. Suddenly the door burst open, which scared the hell out of both Sonic and Tails.

"I'm back and I come baring the beautiful Ms. Valentine." Vector the Crocodile said leading an apparent woman inside. Sonic and Tails both got shocked looks on their face when they saw the woman. Sonic desperately tried not to say anything bad. He tried holding his comment back, but he couldn't. The strain of blurting it out was too much. He had to say it.

"Damn! That Bitch is UGLY!" Sonic shouted. Everyone turned to Sonic who now had his hands over his mouth. There was a long awkward silence before Espio spoke.

"What Sonic means to say is…" Espio began.

"You look like a man wearing a dress." Tails blurted out. Everyone turned to him now. "What…she does." Tails said again.

"Ha Ha, what a kidder." Sonic said putting his hand over Tails mouth.

"Well! I've never been so insulted in my life!" She said in a weird male and female voice.

'_That sure is hard to believe.'_ Sonic thought. Ms. Valentine walked into Vector's kitchen steaming with anger. That's when Vector walked over to Sonic.

"I hope you don't mind my asking but how can you call that beautiful?" Sonic said.

"I know she isn't beautiful. I only call her that because she's so damn rich." Vector explained.

"That's…pretty clever." Sonic admitted. Afterwards both Sonic and Tails walked into the kitchen to apologize, leaving Vector and Espio by themselves.

"So, when are the police showing up?" Espio asked.

"In about an hour. We need to make sure they stay in this place by then." Vector said.

"Well what if they want to leave. We can't threaten them or else they might suspect something."

"I know and that's when you and Charmy come in. You guys will stay here and distract the police until they come back."

"How the hell am I going to do that?"

"I don't know? Show off your fancy ninja tricks you've been working on."

"My ninja skills are developing quite nicely but I still don't think…"

"Now come on Espio, you know I would never let any of my teammates down. Remember when we were passing by that construction sight and Charmy flew in there and got his head stuck in a small pipe?"

"Yeah, you got him out about 10 minutes later. Poor kid's been claustrophobic ever since."

"There you go. You've just got to have faith in your boss that he will do the right thing, okay." Vector reassured.

"…But are you sure turning a national hero over to the police is the right thing to do?" Espio asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean what if there is more to that story you read in that newspaper. We could be making a huge mistake."

"…"

"I'll take that a possible agreement."

"I guess that may be true but…I'm only going by what the police record on the newspaper said. If they want Sonic the hedgehog arrested than they are damn well going to get Sonic the Hedgehog arrested." Vector said walking into the kitchen as well. Espio merely sighed then followed. They all talked for a while before a huge explosion came from outside. They were all startled, especially Tails, who had just fallen out of his seat. Sonic immediately rushed to the fox's aid.

"Tails are you alright?" Sonic helped the fox up.

"Yeah, I'm okay." Tails merely said. "What was that?" The fox asked.

"I don't know, but we're going to find out." Sonic grabbed Tails' arm and was about to leave but was stopped by Ms. Valentine.

"Hold it. Maybe the fox should stay here and the rest of you should go, you know, safety reasons." She suggested.

"What! No! Sonic knows how good I am at being a fighter. Right Sonic?" Tails turned to his blue friend who was deep in thought. "Sonic?"

'_I know Tails is strong and fast but…' _Sonic had a flashback about what happened to that baboon and what happened at the mall_. '…I'm afraid if I take him outside, he might hurt somebody again. We're in enough trouble already.'_ Sonic made up his mind and turned to face Tails. "She's right, you should stay here." Sonic said.

"What! But Sonic…don't you trust me?" Tails asked a bit taken a back.

"Of course I do…I just don't want you to get hurt." Sonic stated. _'I also don't want anyone else getting hurt as well.' _Sonic thought.

"Come on hedgehog. Lets go." Vector said. Sonic merely nodded. Sonic, Vector, and Espio were soon out the door and headed for the direction the explosion was heard. Tails and Charmy were left behind.

"I can't believe this! Sonic knows I'm strong and brave and fast like him. How come I can't go?" Tails pouted.

"Here, I know what cheer you up." Ms. Valentine grabbed Tails' arm and took him outside. Charmy followed as well. When they got outside they saw a nice looking metal van with lightened buttons on them.

"Wow! Look at that! What is it?" Tails asked.

"It's a high-tech storage van. What to take a look inside?" She asked.

"Sure! It looks cool." Tails said excitedly. She opened the van doors and crawled inside. He immediately gasped at what he saw. There were many dead bodies rapped in see through plastic inside the van. That's when Tails all of a sudden felt uneasy and soon became terrified. He was about to get out when he suddenly felt a huge pain in the back of his head. His eyes rolled back and he passed out inside the truck.

_45th street in Central City_

Sonic, Vector and Espio had just arrived at the scene to see many firemen trying to put out the fire in the burning building. Sonic ran up to them, hoping the news that happened in Station Square didn't reach here yet, and tugged one of their yellow jackets.

"Yo, what happened?" Sonic asked. The firefighter turned to the hedgehog wondrously.

"There was an explosion that took place inside there. We don't know how it happened." He explained. Sonic sighed in relief that he didn't know he was a wanted hedgehog but then he remembered the burning building.

"Is everyone out okay?" Sonic asked.

"No one made it out. The explosion happened to quick and so unexpectedly that none had time to escape."

"What a shame." Espio said really meaning it.

"Don't worry, I'll go look for survivors." Sonic ran toward the building and ran inside. He rummaged around the flames and searched far and wide for any sign of human or animal life but to know avail. Eventually he ran into a room with a many black cards lying on the floor. Something was wrong though, flames surrounded the cards but they weren't burning. Sonic ran over and picked one up. It read _'The mortal slicer'_ and had a picture of a bloody knife on the front. Sonic turned the card over and saw the Eggman symbol. "I knew that Egg head had something to do with this." Sonic said angrily. Suddenly a huge burning plank of wood slammed on top of the rest of the cards. The surprised hedgehog got up and jumped out the nearest window. He fell toward the ground and landed behind the fire trucks where Espio and Vector were.

"Did you find any survivors?" Espio asked. Sonic shook his head. Both Espio and Vector sighed in sorrow.

"I did find this however." Sonic showed them the card he found. Vector and Espio examined it closely.

"I've seen that card somewhere before." Vector said. "I can't remember where though." He continued.

"Well I'm sure it will come back to you later. Come on we've got to get back to that office." Sonic stated. Vector and Espio nodded then followed the hedgehog back to their office, leaving the firemen to finish their jobs.

_5 minutes later_

"Tails! I'm back! Little buddy? Where are you?" Sonic asked a little worried that his friend was nowhere in sight.

"Ms. Valentine was here with Charmy and your fox friend. Maybe she took them out to eat or something." Vector suggested.

"That would explain why her van is gone." Espio said.

"Yeah but something doesn't feel right." Sonic said worriedly.

"Why?" Espio asked.

"I know Tails and he isn't the type to run off with someone he doesn't know." Sonic explained.

"Are you saying she might have done something with them?" Espio asked.

"I don't get it. Why would she take them away and where would she go? That doesn't make sense." Vector said slamming his hand against a bookshelf. The shaking of the shelf caused a newspaper to fall over Vector's head. "Oh my God!" Vector shouted making Espio and Sonic turn to his direction.

"What is it?" Sonic asked as he approached the crocodile. Vector took the paper off his head and showed it to them.

"Look at the picture. It's a picture of the same card you have in your hand." Vector pointed out. Sonic held up the card to his face and saw that he was right.

"What does it mean?" Sonic asked. Vector began reading the article that followed the picture.

"It reads _**'The mortal slicer strikes again!** The criminal that is hiding somewhere in Central City has struck again. His resent attempt was the destruction of the Sunset apartment building.'_ Hey I remember that. That was a year ago when we found Charmy in that building's ruins." Vector stated then began reading again. " _' The criminal seems to leave behind mechanical and indestructible cards to mark his crime scene. Examination of these cards shows that they were created by the evil Dr. Eggman obviously telling that he works for the evil genius. Ever since the police have grown closer to finding who this man really looks like he has taken a new approach on caring out his duties. It seems that he sometimes dresses up as a woman to take away suspicion from him. Be on the look out for someone who might be dressed up as a woman in order to fool you. It's said that he sometimes encourages parents or guardians to leave him alone with their kids and takes them away as soon as they are gone. No one knows the whereabouts of this man or what he does to the people he kidnaps. As of now he's still at large.' _Vector finished reading.

"You don't think that Ms. Valentine could be the Mortal slicer…do you?" Espio asked.

"…I…I don't know…she could be…" Vector tried to speak.

"I knew that bitch was too ugly to be a female! I'm going to find Tails and that bee and bring them back here safely!" Sonic said. Vector and Espio both looked at each other than at Sonic.

"But you can't do that." Vector said.

"Why not?" Sonic asked.

"Because no one knows where he is?" Espio stated.

"I'll find out where he is. Don't worry you two, I'll find your bee friend and I'll find my fox friend too." Sonic said heading toward the door.

"Do you even have any leads as to where he might be?" Espio asked.

"No." Sonic answered plainly.

"Then how are you going to find them?" Vector asked tapping his foot.

"…I will find them…I just…"

"Sonic, I know your worried about Tails and we're worried about Charmy too but in order to find them we're going to have to think straight and be calm about this." Espio explained. Sonic looked down at his feet feeling unwilling. He then turned to Espio and nodded.

"I can't believe I let a murderer on the FBI's top ten list in this house alone with two kids." Vector sulked.

"Don't worry about it Vector. It wasn't your fault. You didn't know." Espio reassured. That's when they heard police sirens outside. They heard the sounds of many police cars driving up to the office and the sound of doors slamming.

"Uh oh." Vector said.

"This is the police! We know you're in there hedgehog! Come on out with your hands up!" shouted an officer through a megaphone outside.

"How did they know I was here?" Sonic asked then turned to Vector and Espio who were rubbing the backs of their heads and were sweating hard.

"You guys did this?" Sonic sounded surprised.

"Well…yeah…it was before I knew that you were a nice guy and…well…I sort of sent Espio out to find you and take you here and have you wait long enough for the police to get here." Vector admitted.

"I thought you said they were showing up in an hour." Espio said to Vector.

"I thought so too. It could only mean one thing. That isn't the police force I called." Vector said.

"Open up Hedgehog! I want that kitsune!" shouted a familiar voice.

"Wait a minute I know that voice. That's that SmokeStack dude I met on Westside Island." Sonic blurted out.

"Come on Sonic! We can escape through the back window." Espio suggested. Sonic nodded and followed them to the back window.

_Outside the office_

"Uh sir, why did you decide to wait 5 minutes before sending G.U.N and the police out here?" asked a confused soldier.

"Because…I wanted the timing to be just right." Smoke explained then held up his megaphone. "All right troops bust the door down!" Smoke yelled. Many G.U.N agents and police officers immediately ran up to the house and burst the door down. They all pointed the guns in all directions before looking around the place. They all found nothing but an open window. They all ran out to tell SmokeStack the news.

"Sir, they're gone." Said an officer.

"Well then…" Smoke began before a voice sounded in his head.

"_SmokeStack." _Said the voice.

'_Darkness, is that you?'_ Smoke thought toward Darkness.

'_Call back your troops.'_

'_What. Why? You said we were allowed to do anything it takes to kill the kitsune.'_

'Do it NOW!' 

"…Fine." Smoke said out loud.

"Uh…fine what sir?" asked the officer.

"Fall back troops." He merely said. They all gasped in confusion. _'Darkness, you'd better have a damn good reason for this.'_

'_I assure you I do. It seems The Eggman has used one of his minions to capture the kitsune. This may indeed create a huge emotional discharge on the hedgehog's part. Instead of going in there and delaying the hedgehog's chance of escape, why not let him escape until he finds his fox friend.' _Darkness explained.

'_Can't you use your power to find him.?' _Smoke asked.

'_I cannot. It seems Eggman provided the kidnapper with a shield that blocks off my demonic powers. He must want to be the one to have the honor of killing him. However the prophecy says other wise. The fox will become the evil kitsune.' _Darkness explained.

'_Say what you want but I will kill him. Screw that evil kitsune crap.'_ Smoke thought as he headed back to his G.U.N vehicle and drove off.

_Unknown cellar underneath the city_

"…Ugh…where…where am I?" Tails had just regained consciousness and found himself chained to a chair. The confused fox looked over and saw Charmy Bee sitting in a chair across from him, still unconscious.

"Your in my cellar." Said a figure as he walked up to Tails. Tails all of a sudden got that scared look on his face again. The figure came closer and reviled his identity.

"Ms. Valentine?" Tails said in a voice that sounded like he was on the verge of tears.

"Wrong!" She or rather he pulled off the wig and reviled the top of his head, which was made of metal.

"So you are a man." Tails was crying now.

"Yup. After your guardians left I knocked you and the bee out with a bat and took you here. Isn't this a wonderful place?" He said as he moved out of the way of Tails' vision. As soon as he did he wished he hadn't. The room was filled with corpses of dead bodies. Dried up blood was splattered all over the ground, walls, and even on the chair Tails was sitting in. Tails started to burst out in uncontrollable tears now.

"What? You don't like the way it looks. Too bad considering you're about to become part of it." He said. Tails' ears perked up and he looked at the man in the most horrified face ever.

"You're going to kill me?" Tails said through his tears.

"Well what did you think I was going to do, invite you to dinner?" He said then turned on his communicator.

"Oh Dr.Eggman, the fox is here." He said as he began speaking with Eggman. Tails didn't even care what they were talking about. He was too scared to think straight at all. The suspense of knowing he was going to die was so terrifying that he began to panic inside his head.

'_I'M GONNA DIE! SONIC SAVE ME! PLEASE! I DON'T WANT TO DIE! SONIC!'_ He screamed in his head. Just then he put down his communicator and noticed Charmy beginning to stir.

"Well now, I guess it's time to begin." He said. "Oh and by the way my name is the Mortal Slicer! But just call me Slicer."

_Sewers leading toward cellar: 9:35_

"Are you sure they are in the sewers Vector?" Sonic asked as he walked through the gooey mess in the small tunnel.

"Positive. It's the only place the police investigators haven't looked. What better place to start looking in then the last place someone would ever look." Vector stated.

"He's right. With any luck they should be at the end of this tunnel." Espio stated.

"Shhh! Do you here that?" Sonic asked. Espio and Vector both shook their heads. "There it is again." Sonic said while turning around.

"Wait I here it now. It sounds like the beating of sharp blades." Espio said. As soon as he said that 2 fly shaped robots flew from behind them and flew toward them with their blade wings beating loudly.

"Uh oh." Vector said.

"Don't worry I'll handle it." Sonic jumped in the air and landed on the backs of one of the flies. Vector and Espio jumped on the back of the other one. Sonic then put his hands in front of the fly's eyes. "Guess who." He smirked. The fly now couldn't see and began flying out of control down the tunnel. Sonic looked across each area they passed. There was no sign of any strange activity going on. That is until he heard a huge scream come from one of the halls the fly passed. Sonic quickly jumped off the fly and ran toward that area at the fastest rate he had ever gone.

"Hey, Sonic got off his fly!" Vector shouted then noticed the fly Sonic was riding on just crashed into a wall and exploded. "Quickly, we need to destroy this thing!" Vector shouted through the sound of flapping blades.

"I'm on it!" Espio pulled out a ninja star then jammed it against the back of the fly, than they both jumped off and immediately followed Sonic. The star exploded three seconds later caused the fly to be destroied as well.

_Back in the cellar_

"Aww, did I hurt the little fox so much that he had to scream?" Slicer said while smiling. He had given both Tails and Charmy a slight cut across their chests with the chopper that was attached to his hand. It appears that he was able to use a small cloaking device on his hand in order to hide it. However the device wasn't able to hide the fact that if anyone touched it they would bleed instantly, so he didn't allow anyone to touch his hand. So far Tails and Charmy were beaten across the face and cut across their chests. Charmy was crying loudly, as was Tails. They were both pretty scared about what was happening to them. The cut wasn't deep but it still sort of hurt.

"Next, the arm comes off." He said in the most demonic voice Tails had ever heard. The fox all of a sudden started to squirm really hard but to no avail.

"Please, let me go! I want to live!" Tails shouted.

"Well we all don't get what we want, now do we! I wanted to be a great hero but couldn't because I was told by my boss at the detective agency that I was too ruthless to be on their team. It may have not been the best detective squad but it was one I could afford to be on. After they rejected me I came back the next day and found their leader named Solemn the Bee and cut him up for no reason. When I tried to get away I ended up falling and cracking my head wide open. Luckily Eggman found me and repaired my head. He also gave me this cool chopper and attached it to my hand. I kidnapped you because the doctor wanted me to and I kid napped the bee because…he reminds me so much of that Solemn guy who turned me down." Slicer explained.

"So it was you!" Vector shouted from behind. Slicer turned to face the crocodile in shock. "Solemn was my best friend besides Espio back then. I remember the day when I woke up and got a call from his teammates that he was dead! I couldn't believe it! Now that I've found out who caused his death I going to take up the chance to get revenge!" Vector explained.

'_He…he thinks of me as his best friend?' I didn't know that?'_ Espio thought. He would have never have guessed that considering the huge amount of work Vector expected him to do. After all, Espio is only 12.

"Sonic and Espio, go free Charmy and Tails. I'll take care of this dude." Vector ordered. They both nodded and ran towards the tied up prisoners.

"Oh no you don't!' Slicer's chopper extended at Espio and Sonic but Vector quickly ran in front of it and used both his hands to stop it.

"I said I'll take care of you, understand?" Vector said smugly. Slicer just growled. Sonic ran up to Tails and busted the chains. As soon as they fell to the floor he noticed Tails had his eyes closed and tears were still rapidly flowing out of them.

"Tails, it's me Sonic." Sonic said. Tails recognized the voice and opened his eyes. His cerulean blue eyes met that of Sonic's cheerful emerald green eyes. Without warning, Tails lunged at Sonic and hugged him tightly. Sonic returned the hug as well.

"Oh Sonic, I knew you'd come! It was scary! He was gonna kill me Sonic!" Tails cried.

"Not while I'm alive buddy." Sonic reassured. Tails hugged him tighter. When Espio broke Charmy's chains Charmy pulled Espio into a hug as well, but being a 2 year old he couldn't say what Tails said. Instead he kept crying. Espio picked the bee up and turned to see Vector fighting the crazy man with the chopper.

"You were a fool to come here Vector!" Slicer shot his chopper at Vector, which he easily dodged.

"Yeah, at least I don't where girl clothing for a living." Vector threw a punch at Slicer who immediately dodged it as well.

"Okay then, when I kill you I will dress your corpse up in as many dresses as I want." Slicer said chucking his chopper at Vector multiple times. The crocodile dodged each one then grabbed the chopper while it was extended. He then lifted Slicer up by the chopper and tossed him to the other side if the room.

"Sorry, but I don't think so." Vector said as he took out a packet of gum.

"Vector! This is no time for gum!" Espio shouted. Vector acted as if he didn't here him. He took out the purple colored gum and put it in his mouth, then began chewing. Slicer got up and looked at Vector angrily. Vector just blew a purple bubble and took it out of his mouth, leaving a huge purple bubble floating in the room.

"Hey Slicer dude, I dare you to pop this bubble." Vector dared.

"What? Are you serious? Oh, what does it matter? I will not back down from a challenge." Slicer ran up to the bubble and sliced it in half.

"Gotcha." Vector said. Right after he said that a huge fireball shot out at Slicer. The blast flung him across the room and slammed him against the wall. Everyone cheered at Vector's victory. Sonic quickly used the chains on the ground to tie up and restrain the culprit. After 10 minutes the police finally arrived after Vector went back to the surface to get them. Sonic and Tails weren't arrested because the police force that Vector found was the one he was originally going to call, not the one led by Smoke. Smoke and his force had already left the city for some unknown reason. Vector told the police Sonic was inicent of the crimes he told them about and believed him. Slicer was placed under arrest and scheduled for execution the next day at 8:00 am. The Chaotix were then given a huge cash prize for finally capturing one of the FBI's most wanted. Tails was now sitting with Sonic on the ground leaning against a building. The fox watched as the Chaotix spoke with the police. He had a white towel draped over his shoulders and was holding a cup of juice given to him by the police. Sonic didn't have a towel but did have some of the juice.

"Hey Tails, I'm sorry I didn't take you with me. If I trusted you enough to let you come with me then this probably wouldn't of happened." Sonic explained.

"It's alright Sonic, after all it's not your fault. You were just trying to make sure I didn't get hurt." Tails forgave him.

"Thanks buddy." Sonic said.

_Egg Fortress: same time_

"Damn it all to hell!" Eggman shouted. "Mortal Slicer was captured and is now going to be killed. I am a little bit shocked by the fact the fox didn't turn into that scary black version of himself I saw when I was spying on Ba Ba Baboon's last battle with him. Those small camera orbs certainly do come in handy. But back to the matter at hand." Dr. Eggman said pressing a red button. Suddenly 4 faces appeared on four different monitors.

"Hello doctor, why have you contacted us." Said the first figure.

"Mortal Slicer has failed. You four are my strongest and most valiant commanders. Since you four all have a chaos emerald with you I'd advice that you hang on to them for Sonic and the kitsune will be headed your way." Eggman explained.

"Don't worry Eggman, if they come here I'll show them what for!" said a different commander from before.

"What Igneous means to say is that we will take care of it sir." Said the third commander.

"Very good." Eggman turned off his communication with them then sighed. He sure hoped Darkness knew what he was doing. If not, he just might be losing his greatest allies for nothing. "Bocoe, Decoe! Bring me some prune juice with a raw egg." Eggman commanded.

_Back in Central City the next day_

Sonic and Tails spent the night with the Chaotix then decided to leave, knowing the information that Sonic and Tails were wanted in Station Square would be present to the whole city soon. Vector wondered how Espio was able to get his hands on a paper that stated Sonic and Tails were wanted. When Espio told him that he went all the way to Station Square just for the newspapers Espio was granted less work from Vector. Now they were standing at the exit of Central City and were ready to say goodbye to Sonic and Tails as they moved on.

"Are you sure you can't stay for a little while longer." Vector asked.

"Sorry but we need to keep going. I know Eggman is out there somewhere and I'm going to find him, with the help of my pal Tails of course." Sonic said looking at the fox. Tails smiled weakly. He was still thinking about the events that happened the day before. He couldn't tell Sonic he was still scared though. Then he'd probably think Tails wasn't cut out to be a hero.

"Bye Sonic." Charmy shouted happily.

"Yeah see ya." Espio stated too. Sonic put Tails on his back then ran down the road leading to the highway at a fast passé. It seemed like they still had a long way to go.

_There it is everyone. Took me almost a whole day to type this one. Review please._


	10. Chapter 10

Everyone reading this listen up! The second half of chapter 8 didn't show up on my computer all the way when I updated it. This is a little weird because when I read the review from 'Damo and his alter Ego' he said something about my comment at the end of the chapter where I said 'It took me almost a whole day to write it'. If you've read chapter 8 and read the part where they rescued Charmy and Tails then it appeared on your computer. If not the same thing happened to your computer that happened to mine. I put the rest on chapter 8 and now it shows up on my computer. I sent emails to some of the people who reviewed that all of it didn't go through. However if you did read the part where Tails was rescued and they left to go to the next town then discard the email I sent. Everyone enjoy this chapter and if you have any questions put that in your review.

**Chapter 9: Evil Kitsune in progress**

(Everyone make sure you read the above statement or this chapter might not make sense to you! If this chapter does the statement doesn't apply to you.)

It has been three days now. Sonic and Tails were lying low in Future City right now. They were able too stay in a hotel room for a while until the news reached here as well. It seems that Station Square was taking its time trying to catch them. Sonic was a little puzzled by the fact that Smoke didn't come after them when he knew they were in the detective office. He decided not to dwell on it however. He was having one of the most relaxing days of his life right now and he wasn't going to let it pass. Right now he was at the hotel room resting on his the bed. Since the hotel manager knew who he was they were granted a free stay, at least until they had to skip town again.

_"Sigh'_ Now this is the life. I haven't felt this relaxed in days." Sonic said while lying on the bed and skimming through the channels on the T.V. He soon stopped at the news channel to see if anything was being said about him. He picked up his soda can and began drinking as the story began to unfold.

_"We now return to news life. I'm Drake Quarter and this is Mary Latham with the top story this week."_ Said Drake the reporter.

"_Thanks Drake. It seems the horrific event that happened in Station Square has gotten many Mobians frustrated and angry at not the hedgehog but the police. Many people say the police were jealous by the fact that Sonic was doing a better job at doing their jobs then themselves. They also say that the police staged the event and framed the small fox that was seen at the crime. No one knows who or what the fox is by the way. Authorities have investigated all files on foxes with two tails in Station Square and many other cities but have not yet been able to find out who he is. An investigation was placed in the hedgehog's house and police were shocked to find the remains of what seemed to be the body of a dead baboon that was chucked at the bottom of a huge hill below his house…"_

Sonic spit out the soda he was drinking immediately after he heard her say that. He had forgotten all about that body. He chucked it at the bottom of the hill and said he would get rid of it correctly after Tails dentist appointment. However the moment never came for him and Tails had to flee from the police at the mall after that. Sonic was now coughing hard. The soda seemed to be clogging his throat and he was having trouble getting it out. Just than the door swung open.

"Hey Sonic! I'm back from that play area. It was fun. They had toys and games and…Sonic are you okay?" Tails looked at the hedgehog and saw him couching hard. He looked like he was having trouble breathing. The fox quickly jumped on the bed, got behind Sonic's back, and started paddling it hard. After about a minute, Sonic hacked out the rest of the soda and soon his coughing grew slower and slower until it stopped.

"Sonic? Are you okay?" Asked the worried fox.

"…Y-yeah…I'm okay…thanks pal…" Sonic said in a slightly lower voice than usual.

"You're welcome." Tails smiled happily knowing his hero was well again.

"How'd you know what to do?" Sonic asked a bit surprised.

"I saw a lady do it to her baby downstairs. I didn't know if it would work on you or not but it seemed like the right thing to do." Tails explained.

"Well I'm glad you did." The hedgehog said pretty delighted that the fox was such a fast learner.

"Why were you choking like that anyway?"

"Because I heard something on the news that talked about that baboon I threw down the hill." Sonic explained. Tails' smile quickly turned into a frown when he heard that. When Sonic said that he passed out during that battle it just didn't seem right. If the robots killed the baboon then why did his body look like it was hacked into millions of halves? Usually robots just use guns to take people down. And if the blood of the baboon scattered everywhere then why was he covered with most of it and Sonic barely had any on him. It didn't seem to make sense.

"Hey Sonic… did you really take on those robots back at the house?" Tails asked.

"…Uh…yeah…I did…something bothering you buddy?"

"Well I don't know…it seems…weird…that I would just pass out like that."

"…Well yeah…I know…but…"

"And how come you weren't covered with as much blood as me, especially since you did all the work?"

"Uh…"

"And how come…"

"Because it just is!" Sonic shouted angrily. The fox stood there for a second and took a step back, feeling like he went to far with the questions. "Tails…I'm sorry but…"

"I knew I would be too much one day. And now I did something wrong. I bet you hate me now." The fox felt the tears coming again. Sonic immediately turned to him and put his hands on the 4-year-old's shoulders.

"Tails, I could never hate you. I'm sorry for yelling at you. It's just that…with everything that's happened…"

"I bet that's my fault too."

"No. It could never be your fault."

"Yes it could."

"Well yeah it could but it isn't. Whatever is happening, I promise we'll get to the bottom of it…together... okay pal." Sonic said in his usual cocky tone. Tails smiled and nodded. "Good." Sonic jumped on the bed and pressed a button on the remote that changed the channel up one. That's when he saw the shadow of a familiar figure come from outside the room. He turned his head and looked. No one was there of course however, knowing the blue blur, he was bound to try and find out. Sonic got off the bed and headed toward the door. "You stay right here okay Tails. I'll be right back." Sonic said as he rushed out of the room.

"Okay. Bye Sonic." The fox said after he was gone. Tails got into that lazy and comfortable position Sonic showed him back at his house and relaxed on the bed. Tails looked at the television and started to watch the channel Sonic just changed it to. "I wonder why that girl doesn't have any pants on. And why is she on top of that man?" Tails asked.

_Out in the hallway_

Sonic tiptoed toward the area where he saw the shadow and started to look high and low for the person he knew he saw. Sonic followed the exact hallway it went down, knowing the hallway lead to a dead end. Even if they were going to their rooms it didn't matter, Sonic was after all the fastest thing alive. Sonic soon picked up his passé and began to run faster down the hall. Eventually he spotted the shadow, which was also moving fast as well. The hedgehog saw the person go into an open room and shut the door, but he didn't here it lock however.

"Wow, she sure is cocky. Just like me." Sonic got to the door and nonchalantly tapped it gently. The door swung open and he was greeted by the smirk of a certain white bat. "Hey Rouge. So what are you doing here?"

"Nothing much Sonic. Me and my comrade Big and his comrade Froggy came to see the flowers bloom…on the 25th floor of the hotel." Rouge smiled.

"Ha Ha, that's nice. It's too bad it's a complete load." Sonic said walking in. He looked around Rouge's suite. He saw the cat she spoke of sitting on a bed trying to adjust his fishing pole. He also saw a frog lying next to him in a resting position. Nothing out of the ordinary was seen. "What exactly are you up to?" Sonic asked raising a curious eyebrow.

"Oh nothing you'd be interested in. I mean what's a hedgehog need jewels for anyway." Rouge asked.

"That depends, what kind of jewels we talking?" Sonic asked knowing exactly what she meant.

"Here. I don't feel like explaining anything right now so just take this." Rouge said handing him the newspaper Big gave to her. Sonic took it and pondered. "Take it, I guarantee you'll be satisfied with what you read." Rouge said. Sonic looked back at her, smiled, then left with the paper in hand. Rouge then turned to Big. "You did bring the chaos emerald right?" Rouge asked. Big reached into the snack sack he had and pulled out the glowing purple emerald. "Perfect." She said smugly.

_Back in the hallway_

Sonic read the article on his way back to the room a little intrigued. He had never heard anything like this before.

"Angel Island? Echidna clan? Huge mystical emerald? I wonder if…" Sonic wondered. By that time he had just entered his room, that still had the door open, and he set down the paper. "Hey Tails I'm back." Sonic said to the fox who was staring blankly at the T.V. "Uh…hello? Tails, I said I'm back." Sonic stated again. Still no answer from the fox. Sonic walked up to the bed and looked at him, pondering what the matter was. He then turned to the T.V. He went bug-eyed when he saw what Tails was watching.

"TAILS! YOU CAN'T WATCH THIS!!!" Sonic shouted. Tails immediately snapped out of his small trance when he heard Sonic say that.

"Why not?" The fox asked. Sonic grabbed the remote and turned off the T.V. "What did you do that for?" Tails asked.

"Tails…those kinds of shows are for…people older than you." Sonic tried to explain. He soon baegan to blush, which was really rare for the hedgehog.

"Oh I get it, you just want me to miss out on whatever was happening next. It was really good Sonic. This girl and this guy got undressed and they got in a bed and…"

"Tails, Tails, Tails, Tails, Tails, NO! No watching that stuff."

"I don't get it. Why can't I watch it? Is it bad to watch it?"

"Well…kind of…for kids your age at least."

"If it's bad to watch it then why are they showing it on T.V?"

"…Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…"

"Plus the people doing it seemed to like it a lot. Is it fun?"

"…Well…I wouldn't really know…I've never done it…"

"Really?"

"Well yeah, I'm only 11-years-old."

"How old do you have to be to do it?" Tails asked. Sonic himself didn't know the answer to that.

"I don't know." Sonic asked.

"Then why can't we at least watch it?" Tails asked. Again Sonic had no answer.

"…Well…uh…my mom told me that it was bad to watch…then I saw my mom and dad doing it in the bed one night and It…"

"It what?"

"…It kind of looked fun. It was a little scary at first because I thought my dad was hurting my mom but then when she told me about it I actually wanted to do it too. But my mom explained to me that I had to be a lot older and it had to be with a girl." Sonic's blushing increased.

"Well if you want to do it so much and you can't then why not watch other people do it?" Tails asked in a still confused voice.

"…You know what, you're right! I may not be able to do it but I can still watch it right?" Sonic said with a weird tone of confidence in his voice. Tails just smiled and nodded. Sonic grabbed the remote, turned on the T.V, and the show Tails was watching earlier was on. The both sat on the bed and began watching.

"Hey Sonic, I have one more question." Tails said.

"Yeah buddy?"

"When I watched this I got a weird feeling in the area between my legs…You know THAT area…I was wondering what that was." Tails pondered.

"My dad told me what is was once. He said it was called 'being aroused'." Sonic said in an unsure voice. Tails just shrugged and continued watching with his friend.

_Meanwhile on a floating island above the ocean_

"Okay so that's how you want to play huh? Well I'll put down a yellow 5. Uno!" A red echidna shouted as he put a yellow uno card on a small stack of cards in the grass. "Now it's your move." He said.

"…"

"I knew it! I got you scared didn't I!"

"…"

"Oh yeah! Well…so are you!"

"…"

"Oh is that so wise guy!" The red echidna got up off the ground, walked over to the other side of the cards and picked up…a pineapple with a poorly drawn face on it. The echidna raised back his fist and struck the pineapple hard, causing it to collapse into a pile of goop. The echidna stared at the mess for a minute then sighed. "Great! I killed my best friend! Now what!" The echidna sat on a rock and pouted. He sighed again then turned around to see a huge shrine with a huge green and glowing emerald on it. He turned back to the pineapple mess and murmured to himself with rage.

"Why was I put in charge of protecting this thing? I can't believe it! I'm 12-years-old and I stuck on this island! I should be out doing something useful with my life! I wish I wasn't so important to this damn thing." He moaned.

"That can easily be arranged." Said a voice from above.

"Huh? Whose there?" The echidna looked up and saw a huge aircraft hovering above him. He didn't even have time to move before a silver full-bodied robot came from the sky and landed in front of him. Soon more and more came down until there was about ten surrounding him. That's when an egg shaped man wearing a red suit came down from the sky on a silver platform.

"You must be Knuckles the Echidna, guardian of the master emerald, am I right?" Asked Eggman.

"Yeah. Who wants to know?" Knuckles asked. Then Bocoe and Decoe fell from the sky and landed hard on their faces. Knuckles' and Eggman's sweat dropped when they saw this. After about 5 seconds the two robots stood up and put an arm in front of Eggman.

"Presenting…" Bocoe said.

"Presenting…" Decoe said.

"The world's greatest scientist Dr. Ivo Eggman!" They said in unison. Eggman moved their hands away and bowed playfully to Knuckles.

"What do you want Eggman?" The angered echidna asked.

"I've come here warn you about the safety of your precious emerald." Eggman said.

"My emerald? What about it?" Knuckles asked starting to get a little more defensive.

"Well I…" Eggman took a step forward and heard something underneath his foot. He looked down and saw uno cards on the ground. "Ewe I love uno! I'm the master at this game. How about we play a game first." Eggman suggested. Knuckles raised an eyebrow of curiosity.

_10 minutes later_

"Go doctor, Go doctor!" Bocoe and Decoe shouted with excitement while waving flags with Eggman's face on them. The silver robots were waving flags in the background as well but since they had no speaking function they could not cheer. Knuckles had just put down a blue 7 and he now had uno. Eggman also had uno but he had neither a blue nor a seven, so he had no choice but to cheat.

"Hey, is that someone trying to steal your emerald?" Eggman yelled behind Knuckles.

"What? Where?" Knuckles, being the gullible guy he is, turned to see what it was. Eggman quickly skimmed through the deck, picked out a green 7 and put his other card in the deck. "I didn't see anything." Knuckles said turning back around.

"My mistake, it must've been a squirrel." Eggman smirked. Knuckles shrugged. That's when Eggman put down the green 7. "That's game!" He shouted.

"Wow! You're good." Knuckles said.

"I told you I was the master. Anyway about your emerald." Eggman got back on topic.

"Yeah, what about it?" Knuckles asked again. Eggman stood up and so did Knuckles.

"You're emerald is going to be stolen by two thieves." Eggman warned.

"Oh really…How can I be sure you're not going to try and steal it?"

"Oh please. I wouldn't dare steal from someone who has a pineapple for a best friend."

"I do not have a pineapple for a best friend…and his name is Carl!

"Whatever."

"So who are these thieves you speak of?"

"One is a blue hedgehog and the other is a two-tailed fox. Their names are Sonic and Tails." Eggman explained.

"Sonic and Tails? Never heard of them."

"Exactly."

"…So how do you know they're after my emerald?"

"Lets just say I was informed by the darkness."

"…Uhhhh, okay."

"Hang on to that emerald of yours and whatever you do don't let it fall into the wrong hands." Eggman said while walking back on his platform. Bocoe and Decoe followed Eggman on the platform as well. Knuckles ran up to him before he could leave however.

"Wait! Why do you care anyway?" He asked.

"Because, unlike some people I have a heart." Eggman said while flying back up to his ship. The silver robots followed while using their jet packs. Knuckles watched as they went back to the ship. A few minutes later the ship was gone again. The echidna looked at his emerald in wonder.

"Hmmm…Sonic and Tails huh? I bet I could take em'!" Knuckles shouted boldly then approached his huge emerald. _'Finally, something interesting.' _He thought.

_Back at the hotel_

Sonic and Tails had just finished watching the sex filled movie. It seems they were both feeling that weird sensation on their crouch area. Sonic flipped the channels to see if anything else was on but nothing good caught his eye. Tails eventually got extremely board and fell asleep. Sonic continued channel surfing, unaware that the fox began tossing and turning. Another nightmare was about to take place.

_Unknown area _

"Sir, what should we do? We have used every weapon we could muster but it just isn't enough." Said a scared man as he held yet shook the spear in his hand in fear. The commander of this apparent army looked around the battlefield. Corpses, skeletons, torn remnants of mortal bodies, they all lie everywhere. It was a horrific sight no man should have to see. Why must they fight? Why must there be so much danger and misfortune in the world? Why?

"We will stand our ground and continue to fight! We will not let our men who gave their lives for this cause die in vain!" said the commander. Large footsteps could be heard. The remaining men waited cautiously, for what they were facing was a very sly and quick beast even though it had a considerably large size. The footsteps drew nearer and nearer. The sound of that huge, dark aurora crunching into the bloodstained soil grew ever more restless. Many were scared, even the commander, but they could not give up without a fight…at least not this time. One last paw slammed into the dirt and the men looked up at the destructive beast. "It's here… the 9 tailed kitsune."

'_Where am I…what's happening…is this a dream…hello, is anybody there? I wonder if I'm all alone.' _Tails floated in the purple and black mist with his eyes and mouth shut. He had no choice but to speak using his thoughts. But why? What exactly was going on here? Where exactly was he? Was he alone? No. There is someone here. He could feel it.

'_Foolish child…you are never alone…'_ said a familiar demonic voice.

'_Darkness? Is that you? What's going on? I'm having this vision of people fighting a huge fox in a very bloody field.'_

'_That is you…you are that fox…or should I say… kitsune.'_

'_Huh? What? But how can that be me? I'm right here.'_

'_Hmmmmmmmmm…' _

A huge flash took place and Tails was no longer floating in the mist. The scared fox opened his eyes cautiously. He was standing in the middle of the field he saw the soldiers in. He looked around and spotted the commander he was watching earlier surrounded by his few remaining men. He turned the other way and saw a huge purple and black fox with a searing look of anger and insanity on his face. Tails stepped back expecting it to charge at him but when he turned to run, he realized he couldn't move. He squirmed and wiggled and tried to get away but he just wouldn't budge. That's when he heard the sound of a loud roar. Tails looked up at the huge fox. It all of a sudden charged madly at Tails. The commander and what was left of his army charged at Tails, too. Tails closed his eyes expecting the worst to happen. All of a sudden there was a massive explosion. Darkness floated above the scene and watched as the explosion took place. It seemed to take forever for the smoke to clear, but when it finally did there were still many figures standing there. None of the soldiers were harmed in this event; they were just a bit stunned. They were now staring at a littler version of the kitsune they have come to face.

"W-what happened…to my body?" Tails asked as he stared at his now black colored fur. He also noticed a purple aurora around his body. His pupils were still present however, but they were a darker shade of blue than usual.

"That is your kitsune form. It's interesting you don't remember being in it though, you transformed into it twice." Darkness informed.

"I…I did?" Tails didn't remember turning into this form at all. Why is he just now seeing it for the first time?

"Yes…in fact you used this form to destroy that retched baboon, his two robots, and those two officers back at the mall you were in." Darkness explained.

"…I…I was covered in blood all those times…and Sonic said…"

"The hedgehog lied."

"…How do you know all this?" Tails asked a little freaked out. Darkness made no attempt to answer the fox's question. Instead he merely sidestepped and showed him the small army that was frozen in time. Darkness apparently did it when he was talking to the fox.

"Now, it's time to show your true strength." Darkness said as he pointed to the still frozen army.

"…M-my true strength?" The confused fox pondered.

"Take down those inferior vermin at once!" Darkness commanded.

"What! I can't do that! I don't want to hurt anybody! Especially if I have no reason!" Tails cried.

"If you don't take care of them…" Darkness waved his hand and the time freeze ended. "…Then they will take care of you!" All of a sudden the men snapped out of their frozen state and charged at Tails. Tails didn't understand. He turned around and saw that the huge fox was gone. They were charging at him! They could see him! Suddenly Tails was struck hard across the face with a blunt object. The surprised fox flew across the field, however the purple aurora kept him from hitting the ground. Tails floated in mid air and saw as the soldiers ran toward him in anger.

"Charge men! Fight for everything we lost! We'll make this beast pay for what he did to our clan!" yelled the commander.

"But I didn't do anything!" Tails shouted, though the men acted as if they didn't here him. They all shot their spears at Tails all at once. Tails froze. He didn't know what to do. He was scared.

'_Fight back Miles! Show these pests no mercy!'_ Shouted Darkness inside the fox's mind.

"…But…but I can't!" Tails said as the spears struck Tails' body. They pierced through his stomach one by one, each inflicting the same amount of damage to the fox's body. However, even though the spears did pierce through his body he did not die. Tails looked at the spears and saw them wither away into powdered dust. The soldiers stood in awe as they saw that they had accomplished nothing. The holes in Tails' stomach refined themselves until his stomach was whole again. "W-what…how did…"

'_You are the legendary kitsune Miles. You possess supreme power! These human's cannot harm you. You must show them the error of their ways. Destroy them now!' _Darkness shouted even louder. Tails hesitated. He didn't want to hurt anybody, but then again he didn't want to do die by not fighting back. He wished Sonic were here.

"Attack! We will not give up until there is no men left standing!" The commander shouted as he and his men charged at Tails again. They each pulled out a spare spear and charged with all their might. Tails held his hands in a blocking position and the spears struck his hands. They didn't pierce through; instead they just stayed there. Tails felt weak all of a sudden. He couldn't fight back, he just couldn't!

'_Miles, I've rigged this place to automatically kill you in the real world if you die in here. You must fight back! Otherwise you will never see that blue hedgehog again! You will never help him defeat Eggman! You will never become the hedgehog's partner! You will never avenge your parents!' _Darkness bellowed. Tails' eyes shot wide open when he heard the last few statements.

"My mommy…and daddy?" Tails mumbled.

'_Yes. Don't you see? It's people like this who think fighting is the only solution! Its people like those bullies you faced on that horrid island that believe being different makes you useless! It's people like those officers who judge anyone to be wrong doers just because of their appearance! It's people like that blue hedgehog who believe they are more important then you are so it is acceptable to lie to you! Show them Miles! Show them all they are WRONG!'_

Tails was grinding his teeth in anger as he stared at the men holding their spears against the fox's arms. The speech Darkness made had bumped up the blood inside of him with each word. He was ready to fight back!

"Get… off… of… me… you… evil SOLIDERS!" Tails flung his arms open and sent a huge shockwave of purple energy out at the soldiers. They all were blown backward and they fell to the ground in surprise. "I'm not going to lose to you! Sonic could take you down easily and so can I!" Tails shouted sounding extremely pumped. He was now convinced that he had to fight to survive. He didn't want to hurt anybody, but if it led to that than he would have no other choice. The soldiers quickly got off the ground and made another foolish attempt to strike the angered fox. Tails thought quickly and used his tremendous speed to dodge them. Tails soon stopped when he ran behind them, however he was blissfully unaware that the commander was right behind him.

"Take this!" The commander shouted as he got ready to slam the sharp end of the spear into Tails' head. The fox turned around and saw the spear coming right at him! All of a sudden Tails lost control. He was no longer able to control his thoughts. All he wanted was for this to end, and he was willing to do anything for that to happen. Anything!

Tails extended his now sharp claws and lunged at the man fiercely. About a second later, everyone there heard the sound of blood splattering on the ground. Everyone immediately turned to see what happened. There, in the middle of the dry field, lied the lifeless body of the commander. Hovering over him was the two tailed fox, staring at his bloody claws in disbelieve.

"… I… I… killed him… but… I didn't… I mean…" Tails stuttered.

'_Yes. This is your legacy. You are to do this time and time again. Until you stand alone as the supreme being of the universe!' _

"But what's the point? Why should anyone care if they're the supreme being if everyone's dead? What is their left?" Tails didn't understand it. If he did become an evil kitsune and went around killing everyone in the universe than what is the point of doing it all if you're not going to do anything afterwards?

'_For a smart four-year-old you lack vision. The star ball inside of you is filling up with dark energy. Once it's full you will release it to create new life in the galaxy. Perfect lifeforms made from your energy will rampage across the universe and you will rule over them all! Think of it. Think of a world where there are no foolish humans and animals. Think of a world where people don't destroy themselves over trivial concepts such as money or fame. Think of a perfect world that is perfectly free of any flawed animal or human… Think of a world where everyone is at peace.' _

Tails stood there thinking deeply. He was utterly speechless. He started to remember when Hang Nail and his friends would always pick on him just because of his extra tail. He started thinking about the police chasing after him and Sonic with those robots. He thought about what happened with Ba Ba Baboon and the Mortal Slicer. He continued thinking while the soldiers began to attack again.

"You may have killed our commander…but this isn't over until no one is left standing!" shouted an anonymous soldier. The all picked up their spears and charged at the fox. Tails heard their battle cry as they rushed toward him. That's when he made up his mind about what to do. "Take this you_…'ack'_" The soldier stopped dead in his tracks when he noticed a black hand clutching his neck. Tails clutched even harder making the soldier gag even more. Tails' extreme power caused his fingers to burst through the skin on the man's neck like someone biting a piece of chicken. Soon the aurora that was around Tails surrounded the man's neck. The other soldiers watched in fear as Tails' overwhelming power released and the man's neck was squeezed so hard his neck was completely crushed. The man's head, no longer having a neck to hold it up, fell to the ground. Tails let the body fall to the ground as well and he turned to face the other soldiers. His eyes were blood red and his stare was icy cold. The other soldiers finally realized there was no way for them to win. They turned to run but were met by the face of a pissed off fox.

"You're next." He said in the most dreadful voice imaginable. The soldiers were terrified beyond all reason. There was no way for them to escape. Tails would make sure of that. The fox extended his sharp claws on his right hand out threateningly. "You should have escaped when you had the chance." He said as he lunged with incredible speed at the remaining soldiers. He drew back his hand and slashed through all of them with one swipe! Their bodies were all evenly cut in half. Tails looked down at them and saw the numerous amounts of blood that was moistening the dry soil. He than looked at his claw that was doused in blood as well. That's when a small smile crept on his face, and he began to chuckle. Soon the chuckle turned into a laugh and it kept increasing until it became a laugh of pure insanity.

_Meanwhile_

"Tails wake up!" Sonic shook the fox's body vigorously. The fox had mumbled a few things in his sleep than started laughing insanely. He was still laughing even though he was asleep, which freaked Sonic out a lot. He shook even harder as the fox's laughing increased. He had to get him to wake up and snap out of this. Sonic drew back his hand and applied a forceful slap against Tails' cheek. The fox immediately woke up and stopped laughing. He sat there and stared out into space, which also scared Sonic. The blue hedgehog shook his friend again. Eventually Tails blinked a few times then turned to face Sonic.

"S-sonic, wh-what happened? What's going on?" Tails sat there confused.

"Tails your back!" Sonic shouted in excitement. Tails however didn't return this feeling. He just sat there with a scared yet awed look on his face. "Tails? You are back right?" Sonic asked. Tails looked at his hands and immediately shrieked in terror at what he saw. Sonic didn't know why he was shrieking until he looked down at Tails' hands. The fox stayed silent after the shriek then eventually spoke.

"M-my hands…they're covered with blood!"

_Freaky isn't it? Well I hopped you enjoyed this chapter as much as I did. Will update again soon._


	11. Chapter 11

_Hello all! It turns out that there was no mistake on the way the last two chapters that uploaded. It's just my computer is on the fritz. Anyway I hope you enjoy this next part. It's Cruise Day everybody!_

**Chapter 10: Future City Escape**

"Metal Sonic...I trust everything is going according to plan."

"Yes sir."

"Have you successfully hacked into Eggman's teleportation system?

"Yes. What exactly is it that you wish for me to do?"

"Use it to travel to the other worlds and place it on any spot in the ground. The seed will sink directly into the ground and send of a homing signal. Once the 'Fate Rising' has begun they will sprout and I will be able to pinpoint their location. Now get going!"

"Right away sir." Metal Sonic said charging up Eggman's huge teleporting machine. The white chaos emerald that was jammed into the machine's engine compartment started to glow and send off a huge amount of chaos energy. It wasn't long before the machine hummed and was up completely. A pink vortex suddenly appeared in the teleporting machine. "Well here I go." Metal Sonic said pulling out a bag filled with the small seeds his new master spoke of. Without any hast he jumped into the vortex and let it run behind him.

_Meanwhile at the command center of Eggman's fortress _

"Well have you spotted the knothole yet?" Eggman asked as he lazily tapped the computer's keyboard.

"Not yet Doctor." Decoe answered.

"It seems we are having trouble locating its exact position." Bocoe informed.

"Well keep looking! That place was the very same where most of the previous Sonic and the now broken up resistance group lived. I was informed by Darkness that they are having a little reunion there, and I'll be there to crash the party! I'll finally destroy all the pests that tried to take me down when I had an empire." Eggman said evilly.

"You had an empire?" asked Decoe.

"Of course he did. Dr. Eggman once had a million fortress's like this one stationed at areas all around the world but then that blue pest Sonic ruined everything." Bokkunn explained coming over.

"Yes, it's true. However back then Sonic wasn't even blue." Eggman said.

"He wasn't?" Bocoe asked.

"What do you care? You've never even seen Sonic." Decoe reminded him.

"So what? I still what to know." Answered Bocoe.

"Well I still remember the incident. You see it was a few years after I had completely gotten my empire started. Many people were under my command and I was feared all across the planet. Then one day my fortress landed on a small island called Christmas Island. It was said to be Sonic's birthplace (True fact). Anyway once we got there I sent out my scouter robots all over the island to look for residence. Somehow, while I was watching through the monitors I placed in the scouter robot's eyes, a brown hedgehog was said to have snuck on board." Eggman began.

"That was Sonic wasn't it?" Bocce asked.

"Exactly. You see at the time Sonic was a normal, brown, yet still super sonic speedy, type hedgehog. Being a kid he probably thought it would be exciting to search something that looked this cool. After my scanners picked him up I sent attacker robots to go take him out. When the robots got to his position he immediately freaked out and ran toward the central control room where I was. Unfortunately, I was working on a gene splicing experiment that was suppose to convert matter inside of the living and turn them into humanoid beings of mass destruction. When the hedgehog burst in he startled me. I immediately called for my guards and the robots burst in and started to idiotically shoot everything in sight. They ended up blasting through one of the pipes that was in my machine. The still freaked out hedgehog eventually rammed into me and pushed both of us into the machine."

"Whoa! What happened next?" Asked Decoe.

"Well when we went into the machine the gene splicing machine went on the fritz and electrocuted both of us to the limit. Soon the electricity shot out of the mechanical antenna and destroyed the guards as well as the control center. My ship was fried to the max. Once it stopped me and Sonic exited the machine. Apparently the gene splicing material had different effects on us. The shock reshaped my body to that of an egg and it bleached Sonic's fur blue. He thought it would be fun to destroy the rest of my ship and get me to retreat on my Egg-mobile. The hedgehog soon set up a resistance area in Knothole about 3 months later. He ended up destroying all of my ships and ending my rule!" Eggman concluded.

"That's so sad doctor." Decoe said.

"Yes I know. But that will all change once the rest of the emeralds are collected. I'll start my empire recovery by destroying Knothole!"

"Doctor, we've found a reading that might be that place you're looking for." Bocoe said.

"Good then lets get there quick! I'm not going to wait any longer to kill the rest of the resistance!" Eggman shouted.

_Back in Future City one day later_

The lobby of the hotel was reasonably quiet, that is until the police burst in uninvited. They, unnecessarily, kicked the doors open and ran to the counter with their guns out. They all looked serious and ready to fight. This was after all the Future city police department. These guys were extremely organized and well ordered. There was no such word as 'flaw' or 'mistake' to these guys.

"Can I help you?" asked the hotel manager completely ignoring the fact that he glass door had a large crack in it from the boot that kicked it open.

"Yes. We're looking for a blue hedgehog wearing red and white shoes who was said to have been followed by a small 4-year-old fox with two tails and shoes of the same color." Asked the apparent leader of the troops.

"Why yes. They checked in yesterday. Why?" The puzzled manager asked.

"Maim, are you aware that those two are wanted for killing innocent people and disturbing the peace?" The cop asked.

"…Um…no…that's why I asked why?" she answered back.

"…Right, well we need to get to him and arrest him for this unspeakable crime." He continued.

"If it's unspeakable that why did you tell it to me?" she asked getting sarcastic. She knew who these guys were and she just loved messing with their heads.

"…Uh…just give us the room number and floor we need."

"Okay."

_Meanwhile on the second to the highest floor _

Sonic had already scrubbed the little foxes gloves to the max yesterday! He wanted to make sure every single bloodstain was gone before he presented them back to Tails. It was now 9:00 am and also the day the cruise was suppose to take place. Tails didn't feel comfortable putting his gloves on immediately after Sonic gave them back to him so he put them on the dresser. The first thing Tails did when he and Sonic awoke was put them on however. Tails put them on slowly and quietly; he made not a single sound. Sonic looked at the poor and clearly scared fox as he sat on the bed in complete and utter silence. The hedgehog had seen him depressed and scared before but not like this. Tails told Sonic about the dream he had before he became silent. It was pretty freaky. He ends up killing all these people in his dream then wakes up with blood all over his hands. It sounds so horrific. It also seemed unfair. A child this young shouldn't have to be presented with this much death in is life and yet it seemed as though Tails we exposed to it everyday. Sonic just had to comfort him.

"Tails…" Sonic said while sitting on the bed next to the fox. He honestly didn't know what to say. This would freak any normal 35-year-old man out to the limit. Tails was only four and yet he was so quiet. "…Look, I know that you're a little scared by this but…trust me, we'll find out what's going on and we'll get through it together." Sonic choked out. Tails said nothing. Sonic stared at him for about a minute hoping he'd get an answer. It never came. The hedgehog sighed and put his head in his hands in frustration. What exactly was going on? Why does it seem like it is centered at Tails? What does this so-called 'Darkness' person Tails told Sonic about in his dream want?

"Sonic." A silent and scared voice spoke. Sonic looked down at Tails and saw the frightened light blue eyes of the fox staring at him.

"Yeah buddy?" Sonic merely asked.

"I've been thinking a lot about this and I was wondering…could you…could you…" Tails had trouble getting his statement out.

"Could I what?"

"…Could you use your powers to…to…to kill me!?"

"What!?"

"Please Sonic!"

"There is no way I'm doing that Tails! Why would I?"

"Because I'm dangerous!"

"Huh?"

"I know it was really me who killed all those people at the mall. I even remember doing it now."

"Y-you do?" Sonic asked. This is what Sonic was afraid of. He was afraid of how the fox would react if he knew he was the one who killed all those people.

"Yeah…I remember that police officer who hit you and me on the head. It got me so angry that I guess I went out of control and I killed him. Then I remember going after the cop's partner. After that I started killing everybody there so wildly and…" Tails began. That's when Tails' voice stopped sounding scared and started sounding a little happier. "…And those people's screams and the way they ran…" Tails' voice had perked up even more. Sonic had noticed this and wondered what was happening to him. He listened as Tails continued. "…And the way I slaughtered them ALL! The way their blood splattered all over the floors and walls!" Tails now was sounding like an evil bloodthirsty maniac who loved the sight of humans getting killed or tortured. Tails sounded scary, really scary! Sonic was freaked out when he heard Tails talk like this. It was as if his innocence was completely drained and all that was left was a ruthless murderer! Tails continued on and his voice sounded a lot more scarier and demonic with each word he spoke. Sonic finally couldn't take it anymore. He thrust his hand hard at Tails' cheek and slapped him painfully.

"Get a hold of yourself man!" Sonic shouted.

"…I…I'm sorry…I don't know what happened." Tails said returning to his scared and innocent little self. Sonic saw that Tails was beginning to cry. "See Sonic! This is why you need to kill me! If I keep getting eviler and eviler I'm afraid that I will…kill you." Tails said as the tears began to flow. Sonic just stared at the fox and watched him cry. "I don't want to kill you Sonic. I don't want to kill anybody." Tails' crying increased.

"I know you don't buddy." Sonic said while pulling the fox into a well-needed hug.

"Then _'sob'_ then why have I _'sob'_? Tails asked as he continued crying.

"I…I don't know Tails…I just don't know…but I'm not going to kill you in order to stop this. I've always found a peaceful way to end a conflict and I won't stop now! I refuse to!" Sonic said in a determined voice.

"Thanks_ 'sob'_ S-Sonic _'sob'_." Tails said continuing the on slot of tears. Suddenly they both heard a loud bang on the door. Sonic looked up at the door and the knocking increased.

"We know you're in there hedgehog! Come out now!" said a demanding voice.

'_Oh crap. This has got to be the worst possible time.' _Sonic thought in his head. "Tails." Sonic began. The fox looked up with his tear filled, red, and puffy eyes and listened up.

"I want you to go into the bathroom and climb out the window. Since you can fly I know you'll be alright, okay." Sonic said. There was another loud knock at the door.

"I'm going to count to three hedgehog! If you don't come out we're coming in!" shouted the same angered voice.

"Now go Tails." Sonic commanded. Tails looked at him for a while before he nodded slowly, got out of Sonic's embrace, and went into the bathroom. All of a sudden the door was blown through by a small pocket bomb. The door flew into the room and landed in front of the bed. However this act didn't surprise the hedgehog. The men immediately ran inside and pointed their guns out at him.

"Freeze! We won't shoot if you come quietly!" The officer stated. Sonic raised his hand s up playfully. He had a plan, as always, but Tails at least needed to have the window open for it to work. "Men go search the bathroom for the fox." The solider said.

"Boy you guys don't miss a detail do you?" Sonic asked.

"Be quiet! We did not give you permission to talk." The officer said as he held the gun out at Sonic's face. The hedgehog was confident that his plan would work. Just than he heard the officers shout.

"Get your hands up fox!" The officers shouted as they extended their guns at the fox who had succeeded in getting the window half way open. Sonic looked in the direction of the bathroom and put his hands down. The officers immediately noticed this and pointed their guns at Sonic.

"Put those hands back up!" The officer shouted.

"Naw, I don't want to." Sonic said before he jumped to the ceiling, ran across the top, and kicked the leader over the head. The officer fell to the ground immediately. The officers all of a sudden started firing wildly at Sonic. The hedgehog, being to fast for them to hit, ran into the bathroom and did a huge homing attack at all the officers in there. He knocked them all over with one hit and ran to the window, which Tails had just crawled out of. Unknown to him however, there was an officer who was standing on the rooftop across from this apartment with his gun pointing at Tails' back. As was stated before, these guys were extremely organized and well ordered.

"Hurry up Sonic." Tails motioned as he saw the hedgehog climb out of the window and stand on the window seal. The officers inside the bathroom were recovering fast and they had to move fast. The hedgehog grabbed on to Tails' hands and he lifted him off the seal. That's when an unexpected gunfire was heard. Sonic's ears perked up when he heard it. He looked up at Tails who was staring out into space. Sonic then noticed Tails' leg was bleeding. The hedgehog turned his head to see an officer on the roof across from him cursing at himself because he missed his exact mark. He did manage to hit Tails however and that was enough.

"Tails! Are you alright?" Sonic asked. Tails said nothing. Instead he screamed really loud in pain and let his tails stop spinning. This act caused the two to immediately start plummeting to the ground. They were so high up that the resulting impact would kill them. Tails continued to scream in pain while Sonic held on the fox's hands for dear life.

"Tails, you have to spin those tails of yours or we'll both die!" Sonic shouted. Tails acted as if he didn't hear him. He was so focused on the pain in his leg he didn't even notice that he had stopped flying. Sonic had no choice but to save them both, but how? He had to think quickly, and the only thing he could think of doing was rolling into a ball, so that's what he did. He pulled Tails inward to his body and rolled into a ball that concealed Tails curled up into a ball inside as well. Sonic didn't know if this was going to work or not but it was the only thing he could think of. Sonic held his breath while desperately hoping this would work. Soon the ball they both formed slammed into the ground. The ricochet it caused made them bounce off the ground and back into the air, leaving a huge crater in the street. The ball bounced down the road rapidly, making a dent in everything it hit. This included the cars, the mailboxes, and even the streetlights at times. Eventually the bounce turned into a long roll down the road until it eventually stopped. Sonic and Tails uncurled and sat there on the warm road.

"Whoa…thought that would never work." Sonic panted in relief that something that crazy turned out okay.

"S-Sonic…I'm bleeding…a lot." Tails wept as he held his leg in pain. Sonic looked down and saw the blood endlessly flowing out of the fox's penetrated leg. He then growled in disgust. Sonic couldn't stand the sight of police officers shooting little kids. The hedgehog had seen it happen right in front of him before. He sometimes wondered why he would always help them with their problems. Then he remembers that there are still good cops out there who want to help instead of using violence to solve everything. Plus it really wasn't for the cops. It was for the people. Sonic shook the thought from his head and glanced down at the matter at hand.

"Don't worry Tails." Sonic put his hand on the fox's shoulder as he continued to cry his eyes out. "We'll get you a doctor. Tell me, are you feeling dizzy." Sonic asked.

"…A little…" Tails said bobbing slightly back and forth. That's when a startling bullet shot at the ground directly in front of them. Sonic jumped a little when he heard it slamming against the ground. The blue hedgehog looked up and saw many police cars coming at the two.

"Damn it! Again the worst possible time! How'd they get to their cars so fast anyway?" Sonic said hoisting Tails in his arms and running at full speed down the road. "Today is the day for that cruise the paper that Rouge gave me was suppose to happen. I'll be damned if I let these orderly losers stop me from following an obvious clue to Tails' past. Not on THEIR life!" Sonic shouted as he continued running. He heard the sound of many up coming police sirens but no sound of wheels spinning against the ground. He thought this was strange but kept running nonetheless.

"Give up hedgehog! We just want the kid!" said a familiar officer through a megaphone.

"If that's true then why were you going to arrest me?" Sonic loved to mess with these guy's heads.

"…Because shut up." He shouted while picking up the speed of the car. Sonic turned a corner and shot down the next road leading to the highway. The hedgehog new where the docks were in this city and he wasn't going to waist anytime getting there, especially while holding a bleeding and woozy fox in his hands. The police cars were now nearing mach 1 speed, which was a little lower then what Sonic was going while trying to reach the interstate. Sonic had never seen nor heard of cars that could travel so fast. He had to see what they were driving in. He turned his head slightly and saw the police riding not in regular police cars but in hover cars! He should've guessed. Future City was known for its vast technology and fast paced cars. Sonic turned back to the road and noticed a pole coming up ahead. He quickly moved to the side and ran down the next street. As soon as he did a barrage of bullets started to fire at him. Sonic knew their aim was always precise so he had to find some way to dodge them without actually taking his mind off his destination. The hedgehog rounded another corner, as did the cars. At the rate he was going he was never going to lose them. The hover cars' roofs then opened up and out ejected laser cannons. They all shot vigorously at the hedgehog, not caring if they missed and hit any buildings or cars, which they did.

"Just like cops like these to not care about their surroundings." Sonic mumbled. His feet picked up an enormous amount of passé all of a sudden. Soon he left the hover cars nothing but a long blue streak for them to follow.

"Hehehehe…Idiot hedgehog. If he thinks he can get away from us by just running, he got another thing coming." Said the unimpressed officer.

"There, I finally lost them." Sonic said satisfied as he kept running through the high tech city.

"Oh you think so huh?" said a voice clearly emitting from a microphone. Sonic's ears perked up when he heard it.

"Where did that…?" He began when suddenly 5 hover cars crashed through a building in front of Sonic and started to go after him. The hedgehog freaked out and turned around. That was really unexpected. He ran back in the direction he came not knowing the other squad of cops was dead ahead.

"We've got you now hedgehog!" Shouted the leading officer from a car that was approaching Sonic fast, as well as a couple more cars behind it. Sonic looked behind him and forward. He was trapped! If he kept running he'd surely crash into one of them…, which wasn't a bad idea really. Sonic pulled the now extremely dizzy and woozy fox in toward his stomach and presumed spin dash position. "What in the world is he doing?" The cop asked looking very interested. Sonic all of a sudden shot forward and sliced the leading officer's hover car in half. The car, now separate, stopped hovering, fell on the street, and slid across the road, sparks emitting from the bottom as it did so. The lead officer immediately jumped out of the car and rolled on to the street. He then ducked and covered as many hover cars zoomed over his body at now mach speed. "Damn you hedgehog!" The officer shouted in anger.

"Your welcome!" Sonic shouted back then turned forward realizing he was about to hit a building. Behind him many of the hover cars spiraled out of control when the unexpected car split in half and collided with most of the cars. Many ended up crashing into each other. Others bypassed the rest and kept in pursuit of the two runaways. Sonic, still nearing a face impact with the building, jumped and fixed his feet so they would stick to the wall. Once that happened he continued running up the side of the building. He thought this would get the cars out of his pursuit but he was wrong as usual. The advanced technologies of Future City hover cars were able to do the exact same thing as Sonic did. This appalled the hedgehog. He grew even more appalled when he saw two hover cars right beside him. _'Great! Now they're catching up to me! I seriously need to lose them!'_ Sonic thought. He looked forward as he neared the top of the roof. That's when a crude smile appeared on his face. _'This plan is incredibly crazy and stupid…and I like that! I think it will work'_ Sonic rushed even more as he neared the top. _'Just need the right timing.'_ Sonic then got about one inch away from the ledge of the top of the roof. _'NOW!'_ Sonic shouted in his head as he used his foot to slam into the ledge of the building and used it as a trampoline to launch him high in the air. The cars immediately stopped when they came on the roof. The officers got out of their cars and looked up to see the hedgehog flying above the clouds.

"He may have been able to survive the building drop but he will never survive a fall like that." Said one officer.

Sonic flew higher and higher above the clouds as he held on to Tails, who was in desperate need of medical help. The fox was visibly bleeding on to the street the whole time. It wasn't a hard thing to miss. Now to the matter at hand. Sonic had successfully escaped the officers but now he was plummeting down to Earth with intense speed. He couldn't even roll into his ball form anymore.

"Damn! I wish there was something else I could've done." Sonic said as he saw the highway approaching below. Suddenly the falling stopped. Sonic was a little puzzled by this. It now seemed like he was floating toward the Earth. This was even more disturbing. Sonic didn't know what was going on until he heard the familiar beating of twin tails.

"Tails?" Sonic looked down at the fox, who was still conscious, twirling his tails at a fast passé. "What are you doing?" Sonic asked.

"Saving…you…" Tails said in a weak voice. Sonic looked surprised for a second then smiled at the sight of this inspiring scene.

"Thanks kid." Sonic said as they neared the sidewalk on the side of the highway. When they landed Sonic immediately kept running toward the dock area. He was so close to it he could feel the salty sea breeze slapping against his face. He just prayed that he wasn't to late.

_At the dock_

Many rich aristocrats were now boarding the huge cruise ship. The ship looked like a futuristic version of the Titanic. It seemed extremely upper class. This didn't stop Rouge however. She, Big, and Froggy went up to the stairway casually. Rouge noticed Big was trying to hard to be casual which made the way he walked look strange.

"Um Big? Try to act a little less casual then that." Rouge warned. Big shrugged and walked regularly. When they made it up to the ramp leading on the ship there was a man with slightly frazzled hair and a white trench coat on standing there with a bright smile on his face. "Let me do all the talking Big." Rouge said.

"Okay." Big said.

"Ribbit." Froggy said as well. Rouge walked up to the ramp and toward the man.

"Hello there handsome." She said smirking.

"Hello maim. Do you have a pass?" The man asked.

"Why no but…"

"Then I'm afraid I can't let you on."

"What! Do you know who I am?"

"No."

"I am the richest aristocrat to be known all across Mobius! Woman like me don't need passes." Rouge lied.

"And what may I ask is your name." The man asked ever so politely.

"Uhhhh….R-Rose…Yeah Rose Mary Limpkin. That's my name." Rouge said.

"I've never heard of you. The only person with Rose anywhere in the name is the rich aristocrats Tanya Rose, her husband Marlin Rose, and their daughter Amy Rose." Informed the man.

"Well I am young Amy's aunt Limpkin."

"I thought your name was Rose Mary Limpkin?"

"It is…backwards…I meant to say Limpkin Mary Rose." Rouge was doing a terrible job at fibbing all of a sudden and she knew it. The man raised his eyebrow. He clearly wasn't buying it. That's when Big unzipped the handbag they had brought with them and took out the purple chaos emerald. The man quickly caught sight of it and went bug-eyed.

"My word! I've never seen an emerald shine so bright! What pray tell kind of gem is that?" The man asked. Big didn't answer. Instead he shoved the emerald back in the bag and zipped it up. The man looked slightly disappointed.

"Well that should be enough to confience you right?" Rouge smirked.

"…Uh?"

"You might want to hurry up with your answer. You're holding up the line."

"…Oh of course." The man stepped aside and let them pass.

"Thanks Big. I guess I was a little nervous. After all I have never pulled off a heist where I presented myself in front of the victims before." Rouge admitted.

"Its alright, after all I get nervous too. Right Froggy?" Big asked. The frog croaked happily. Rouge just shrugged and continued walking.

'_Hmm…the Rose family huh? I bet I could score big time off of them.'_ Rouge thought in her head.

_Back at the ramp_

Sonic ducked and dived through the crowd while hanging on to the still bleeding fox. He needed to get there fast. He pushed people violently out of the way and didn't even care. Eventually he got to the front of the line and he walked up to the man.

"Please I need to get on board. My friend is bleeding badly and he needs help." Sonic pleaded.

"Well if this is true then why didn't you go to the hospital?"

"This was the closest place." Sonic lied. "Please just help me."

"I'm sorry but this cruise is liable to only rich aristocrats. Plus we're leaving in a few minutes. If you came on board to get him fixed up we would have already set sail." The man explained.

"I know that. I don't care." Sonic said with a straight face. The man looked down at the poor, struggling, and bleeding fox. He felt sort of sorry for him, especially since he was such a young age.

"…Very well. I happen to be a doctor anyway." The man said grabbing Tails and pulling him into his arms. By now Tails had fainted from blood loss so he didn't try to squirm out of the grasp of someone he didn't know. The man then whistled using two fingers. Immediately after he did so a man wearing a white navy suit came over.

"Yes sir?" asked the man.

"I need you to cover for me while I take this fox to the infirmary." Said the apparent doctor. The man wearing the amazingly clean white suit nodded and Sonic and the doctor were on their way to get Tails some help.

_Room 103 on board the ship_

"Oh yes this looks marvelous." Said an astounded Tanya Rose as she held the beautifully woolen pink dress.

"Why thank you I made it for a special gallery at the young woman's ball association." Said a frilly woman in a puffy pink dress. Marlin Rose was sitting in a pink chair that matched everything else in the room. The whole room was embroidered the color pink. Marlin personally didn't like it but was too transfixed on the newspaper he was reading to care. The woman continued talking about the small pink dress filled with flowers and layers of monochromatic shades of the overly used color. At the table beside them sat their extremely board daughter, Amy Rose.

"Amy, I want you to try on this dress." Said he mother as she approached her.

"Come on mom, I've tried on loads of dresses today. Can I please leave this room so I can go search the place? It looks huge and it might be really fun to explore and…" Began Amy.

"Amy Rose! You are a young adult and you will act as such! You always have this crazy idea that girls your age can go running around looking for action all willy-nilly. Well I won't have it young lady…"

"Mom! Stop calling me a young lady! I am a young girl! For goodness sake I'm 8-years-old! Stop treating me like I'm old and wrinkled like you!" Amy shouted knowing her mother had no wrinkles on her face.

"I'm not treating you like you're old, I'm treating you like a respectable rich aristocrat!" Tanya argued.

"But I don't want to be rich!" Amy blurted out. Her mother, father, and even the old woman holding the dress gasped when they heard this.

"Y-you what?" The mother asked surprised.

"You and daddy like living like spoiled and uncaring tyrants! I'm not like that. When are you going to realize I'm not you mom! I don't like wearing frilly dresses! I don't like firing a butler or a maid just because he or she missed a spot! I don't like using our money to send people to jail just because they won't move out of our way! I just plain hate being rich!" Amy blurted out loudly.

"…Amy Rose, how could you say such horrible things about our family?" Tanya asked shocked by her daughter's sudden outburst.

"I say them because they're true." Amy said. "You even had my best friend's parents arrested because she was a normal neighborhood kid with a regular life who liked me and liked playing with me. You guys thought that just because she has less money means she is lower class. Now she is living in a foster home because of you and I bet you don't even feel sorry for it!" Amy shouted while starting to cry.

"Why of course we don't!" Marlin said slamming his paper on the ground angrily and walking toward his daughter. "That girl had no right to play or even talk to her superior!" He said angrily.

"I'm not superior to her dad! You only think that because we are rich!"

"Well I don't know about you but I am damn proud we are rich! If you don't like it we can always send you to a foster home like your so-called friend goes to!" Marlin shouted meaning every word. Amy looked up at her father in disbelief.

"You'd really do that?" she asked as her tears fell down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry honey but if you can't learn the basics of our family then we have no choice but to send you away."

"But you do have a choice. You can treat me as an individual and let me be who I am."

"Sorry sweetie but this is the way it is." Marlin concluded. Amy didn't say anything. She turned and ran out of the room in tears.

"Marlin, do you think we will ever teach our daughter to get used to this life." Tanya asked.

"…I don't Know Tanya." Marlin answered while walking back to his chair.

_Out in the hall_

Amy was crying her brains out. She had always been different then all the other rich aristocrats she had come in contact with. Amy loved pink like her mother but that was all they had in common. Amy had always had this weird sense for adventure and action. She was caught by her mother multiple times in the open spaced meditative room of their house swinging her Piko Piko hammer around the room fiercely. Amy was also longing for a boyfriend as well. Her parents had set Amy up with a future husband already. His name was Bartleby and he acted as rich and as snotty as her parents. He was aboard this ship as well, out getting some catering done for something special that is being planed for tonight. Amy didn't really care about Bartleby, not one bit. He was so careful and slow. She wanted someone fast and handsome. She longed for a person who wasn't afraid to jump into battle even when the odds were against him. She was looking for someone that would look good together with pink. She was looking for a hero. Suddenly a blue streak zoomed past her with lightning fast speed. Amy looked in the direction the streak was headed and thought.

'_Blue? Hmmm…I wonder who that was? A blue streak huh? I'd better follow it.'_ Amy thought as she ran down the hallway.

_Down the hall_

"Mr. Hedgehog, could you please slow down a bit?" asked the doctor as he was being carried by the blue hedgehog.

"No way! Tails needs medical attention fast!" Sonic eventually stopped in front of a door that said infirmary. He burst inside and set the doctor down. The other doctors that were in the room were startled by the intrusion. The doctor set Tails down on the bed and he and the other doctors immediately got to work. Tails had lost a lot of blood on the way over and Sonic knew it. He just hoped he wasn't to late. Soon the all the doctors except the one that brought Tails here dispatched from the bed Tails was on and went over to Sonic.

"You look like you could use some medical help as well." One of them said eyeing the huge amount of blood on Sonic's lower half of his body.

"What? Oh you mean this blood?" Sonic pointed to the blood. "This is Tails' blood, it just got all over me is all." Sonic explained. The doctors all nodded and turned back to Tails' bed.

"So how is the fox doing Morris?" asked the doctors.

'_So his name is Morris huh?'_ Sonic thought. "Yeah, how is Tails doing?" Sonic asked equally concerned.

"Now, now, let me actually examine him first." Morris stated. He looked at Tails' blood covered leg. He was about to examine it more closely when he noticed something weird. The wound was healing fast, really fast! It was almost completely gone. Morris stared at the fox in pure shock.

"Well?" Sonic asked growing impatient. Morris quickly grabbed his bandages and rapped them around the shot area of the fox's leg. He then turned to face the concerned hedgehog.

"Don't worry, you friend will recover. He just needs some rest and he'll be alright." Morris said. He neglected to tell Sonic about the wound healing so fast however. He knew if he did the hedgehog would get more wondrous about this fox's past.

"That's a relief." Sonic said wiping the beads of sweat from his head. Unknown to him Amy was right by the door watching the hedgehog closely.

"Are you sure you're okay?" asked another doctor.

"I told you I'm f-" Sonic began before he fell backward and passed out. The doctors and Amy all gasped when they saw this.

"Quick, get him on a bed." Commanded Morris.

_Back on the ramp_

"Excuse me! Out of the way! Coming through!" SmokeStack said while he and his men pushed their way through the crowd and walked up to the ramp. Unfortunately he was stopped by the man in the white navy suit.

"I'm sorry sir but I can't let you in without a pass." Said the man. Smoke just growled at him and moved his hand away. The man in the suit immediately put it back.

"Look buddy, I'm with the military and I need to get aboard this ship now!" Smoke commanded.

"I'm sorry sir but the rules clearly state…" The man began before Smoke grabbed his collar.

"Look pal! I don't give a damn whatever the hell the rules say! Now if you value your meaningless and drained life then step aside and let my men through so I can kill the two-tailed bastard that's on this ship!" Smoke demanded. The man in the suit slowly nodded in agreement. Smoke tossed him to the side without even looking at where he threw him, which was over the edge of the ramp and into the sea. Smoke and his men stomped on board and looked around

"Listen up men! We need to find and kill this fox in a salutary and secluded area. We can't afford to stir up any ruckus on this ship, alright?" Smoke explained. His men all nodded. "Good then let's move out!" He shouted.

_There you go! Same deal as before, Read and Review please. I will update again soon, and make sure to drink plenty of fluids…not sure how that came up exactly but who cares, I have 70 reviews so far! Whooo!_


	12. Chapter 12

_Here I am! I was taking a little break on my story writing but I'm back now. Here is the next chapter. Read and review!_

**Chapter 11: The Hidden Laboratory**

Amy sat in the room on a wooden and somewhat creaking stool as she watched the blue hedgehog of interest to her sleep on the bed. It has been an hour since he passed out and still Amy hasn't budged from that spot since. She had already pieced together the info given off by the hedgehog's attire and deducted that he was the world-renowned hero Sonic the Hedgehog. Her parents always got a look of disgust on their faces when they read an article about him in the newspaper. They never liked seeing the cheery hedgehog's smiling face in a picture of him standing toward the camera with his thumb extended and a visible smoking robot created by Eggman lying in a scrap heap behind him. Amy however thought he was cute. She enjoyed reading those articles, which is until the one about the massacre at the mall came out.

"I wonder…" Amy whispered to herself as she turned to face the other unconscious creature on the bed. She immediately staggered back and almost fell off the stool when she saw him. It was the same fox in the newspaper! That thing is the evil menace that killed all those people! But why would Sonic be venturing around with it? She knew that this hedgehog was said to be reckless at times but not stupid. She then got off the stool, for the first time since they have been unconscious, and walked toward the fox and examined him. She then realized, for the first time, that he had two tails! She stood and thought for a minute.

"A fox with two tails… Cool!" She said. Just then she heard sounds coming from the bed behind her. She turned around and saw the blue hedgehog sit up, admitting a groaning noise as he did so, and face Amy. Before he could get his vision focused he was transfixed into a huge, painful, and bone crushing hug by the pink hedgehog.

" '_Ack'_ What…What's going on?" Sonic choked out.

"I'm so glad you're awake!" She shouted with excitement as she loosened her grip and eventually let go.

"Um…me too. So... uh...what is your name?" Sonic asked a little curious.

"Oh…uh well…my name is Amy Rose." Amy chuckled.

"My name is Sonic."

"I know…"

"So what are you doing here anyway? I thought rich girls like yourself usually stay at their fancy suites." Sonic asked.

"How did you know I'm rich?" Asked a slightly surprised Amy.

"Oh come on, your name says it all. Amy Rose is the daughter of the rich aristocrats Tanya and Marlin Rose. You are mentioned merely everywhere. It was said your family is evil beyond all reason but judging by the way you hugged me I'd say that was an understatement." Sonic explained. His happy grin disappeared when he saw that she was frowning. "Hey, hey, I didn't mean anything bad by it. I was just…"

"No, you're right. My parents are selfish evil tyrants who would do anything to get their way, even send me away." Amy stated. Sonic sat there with a look of sorrow on his face after he heard that. There was a long pause.

"At least you have parents." Came a voice from behind. Amy turned to see who it was. There she saw the two tailed fox sitting up in his bed with a dazed look on his face. Amy didn't know what to say or think. She read in the paper that this kid was suppose to be dangerous but when he spoke just now she didn't hear the voice of an evil blood lusting monster, she heard the voice of a frightened and sad little kid. She then got the courage to speak.

"W-what do you mean?" She asked.

"I never knew my mommy and daddy…the only thing I have that proves I even have a mommy is a picture that…" Tails went silent as he remembered that the picture was ripped up by Hang Nail. He sat there for a moment before speaking again. "…I mean I used to have it but…it was ripped up by a bully who hated me because I…I'm a two tailed freak." Tails said before immediately bursting out into tears. All this talk about parents got him thinking negatively again.

"That's…that's so horrible." Amy said. She all of a sudden didn't care about what the newspapers said. She completely forgot about the article and walked over to the crying fox to give him a hug. Tails stopped balling when he was in her warm embrace. He had never felt such a comfortable warmth come from a woman before. Mostly the woman he comes in contact with just hit him or say move in an uncaring voice. She soon broke the hug and began to speak with him. "You're very cute. I can't imagine why someone would be so mean." She said referring to the picture that was ripped up.

"Yeah, this kid has had some rough times on that island." Sonic said while walking over and sitting on Tails' bed. Tails felt a strange feeling when Sonic sat by him. He now had two people, who actually liked him, sitting next to him on a medical bed. It wasn't a feeling of danger; it was a feeling of warmth and happiness. Tails let a smile creep on his face while Amy and Sonic spoke.

"Really, that's so sad." Amy said responding to Sonic's statement.

"Well his life is getting better. Me and him are setting out on a journey that will change both our lives." Sonic said. _'Hopefully for the better.'_ He thought. Just than doctor Morris came in the room holding a clipboard and walked toward Tails' bed.

"So how are we feeling?" Morris asked in his usual sincere voice.

"Huh? Oh my leg." Tails looked at his bandaged leg with curiosity. Morris saw no blood penetrating it, not a single drop was shown on the bandaged area. He secretly hoped no one would notice this. "I think it still hurts." Tails remembered being shot but didn't remember being bandaged fore he was already unconscious when that took place. He was still a little bit confused on how it happened but decided to just let it go. After all it was feeling a bit better.

"Well if it still hurts then you'll have to stay in the bed for a little while longer." Morris explained.

"No. Really, I'm fine. See." Tails got out of the bed and set his foot on the ground. All of a sudden large amounts of pain seeped from his foot and spread through his body like a wide spreading sound wave. Tails cried out in pain, which startled everyone, and let the rest of his body fall off the bed and hit the floor with a hard thud. Sonic immediately rushed to his aid.

"Tails, are you okay little buddy?" He asked as he hoisted the fox into his arms.

"Yeah. I guess I can't walk right now but I can still fly." Tails said in a reassuring voice. Tails began spinning his tails rapidly and soon took off from Sonic's arm. "See! I don't have to stay in bed." Tails said excitedly.

"Well I guess you don't. I knew nothing could keep my buddy down." Sonic said giving the flying fox a thumbs up. Tails smiled then proceeded to hover around the room happily.

"Oh Amy dear!" Shouted a somewhat portly woman from outside the room. Amy sighed in frustration as she walked toward the door. She was greeted by the same woman that was sewing her ballroom dress earlier. "Amy, oh I'm so glad I found you. Listen your mother wants you to get dressed for the ball tonight." Said the woman.

"What?" Amy whined.

"Hurry dear. Bartleby will be here soon to pick you up."

"ERR! Fine I'm go to the damn ball with Bartleby but I'm not wearing that frilly dress. I'm wearing my regular pink dress and that's final." Amy declared.

"Amy dear…"

"Call me Amy! Just Amy." She declared again.

"…Fine but we must get ready now."

"Why? The ball doesn't start until 9:00 tonight and it's only 11:00 am?" Amy asked.

"Your mother wants to make sure you get your edict lessons perfected." The woman explained.

"No one is perfect. Plus I don't understand why we need to practice proper lady-like edict anyway. Other people don't have to do it so why do we?" Amy asked.

"Well dear…"

"And why can't we just act and behave like a regular civilian family. Just because we have a lot of money doesn't mean we need an unreasonably large house the size of 3 airplanes!"

"Amy you ask to many questions! Now get back to the suite and leave these peasants be." The woman then dragged Amy out the door without even letting her say good-bye.

Sonic watched the scene in disbelieve. He felt sorry for her. If he was forced to do things other people wanted him to do like that he would have already committed suicide. What's the point of living if you can't run freely and enjoy life? Sonic turned to Tails, who was hovering a few inches above the floor, and began to speak.

"Um Tails…did you have any unusual dreams again that I need to know about." Sonic asked.

"…No…I just had a dream about what it was like back on Westside Island." Tails said in a saddened voice. "I hate being hit with rocks and being tossed around by bullies and getting kicked in the stomach every time I finally eat some food. Its not fair." Tails said.

"I know it isn't." Sonic merely stated with no emotion as he got into a comfortable sitting position on the bed.

"But why? I always wanted to know why some mean Mayor guy made it a law to hate someone who was not perfect."

"I do to. What's weird is that they weren't hurting each other."

"Huh? What do you mean? Everyone on that island was perfect cept me cause I got two tails." Tails said with a surprisingly uneducated sentence. Morris merely chuckled behind them.

"Ah the simple mind of children." He whispered to himself.

"Tails they weren't perfect, they just thought they were. Perfection is an unachievable goal. It means no one is perfect." Sonic explained.

"Oh…well then why did they only pick on me?" Asked the confused fox.

"Because those idiots saw your extra tail as a major imperfection when it really isn't."

"It isn't?"

"No. Anyone who can fly just by using their tails as a propeller is pretty damn special in my book. Everyone has a couple a flaws about them that makes them perfect in a matter of speaking."

"You mean like how I read in one of the magazines back at the hotel that you were afraid of water." Tails pointed out.

"HEY! I'm not afraid of water! I just don't like to get wet." Sonic said in defense. This made Tails chuckle. The hedgehog sure knows how to cheer someone up.

"Okay whatever you say Sonic." Tails chuckled. Sonic jumped off the bed and headed toward the door. "Where are you going?" Asked Tails.

"I'm gonna see if there is a bar or something around here. I need some soda." Sonic said walking out. Tails laid his head on the cold white pillow and relaxed. He couldn't explain why but plopping his body on that pillow made him feel so comfy and at ease. While he pondered this Morris also made his way toward the door.

"I'll be heading toward the ball room to check and see if the preparations are ready. By Mr. Prower." He said also leaving. Tails was now alone, all alone.

_Back on Eggman's ship_

Metal Sonic had just finished completing the task his master had instructed him to complete. He hovered out of the teleporter only to be met with a small vibration in his head.

"_Metal! Are you there!" _Shouted Eggman from the other side.

"Yes Doctor." Metal answered.

_"Good. Listen, I want you to take the quadrant B ships and attack a cruise ship that was said to be sailing out today. Wait until it is 9:00 pm at night to attack. This way the ship will sink unnoticeably without fear of outsiders seeing the smoke."_

"I understand."

"_Perfect! Take Bocoe and Decoe with you just in case. He He He! That ship is 3 times as big as the titanic and it will sink three times as deep!"_ Eggman laughed on the other end.

"Yes sir. 9:00 pm at night on the dot." Metal stated.

"_Oh and make sure you close up the portal when you're done with it." _

If robots had high emotions Metal Sonic would be terrified to the max as soon as Eggman said that last statement. The communicator was turned off on the other end now, leaving Metal to stand there and ponder.

"… Damn. He knows."

_Back on the cruise ship: 11: 30am_

Tails had just awoken from a well-needed rest. He sat up and looked around the empty infirmary. He decided since Sonic wasn't here he would take it upon himself to get himself some food. The fox was about to jump out of bed when he remembered his hurting leg. He slowly stepped down and began twirling his tails, which instantly lifted him up a few inches above the marble floor. Tails then hovered out the room and down the hall.

"I'm so hungry. I wonder where the kitchen is." Tails moaned as his stomach began to growl. He hovered past a few aristocrats who paid no attention to him as he flew by. All Tails' mind was focused on was finding a kitchen. He suddenly came across a map of the entire ship on the wall and stopped to read. He was surprised at how incredibly huge this ship was. He read on the map that it was well over bigger than three regular cruise ships put together! Another growl came form his stomach, which made Tails more focused on his goal of getting to an indoor restaurant or some other place that sells food. He then studied the map and got his directions. The fox tried memorizing them and when he did he headed out.

He searched through the halls while following the directions he had in his head. After a few minutes Tails began to feel as though he were lost. He knew he wasn't good at memorizing directions, which didn't turn in his favor in the end. The now worried fox hovered through the numerous halls over and over again. Soon the red embroidered carpet floors and the equally red carpet walls with numerous paintings on them began to dissipate. He soon flew into a less glamorous part of the ship. The floor now had a tattered darker red colored carpet on the ground and the walls, instead of any carpet, had orange paint that was visibly and rapidly peeling off the walls. Tails grew scared as he continued to fly down the numerous halls. Soon the lighting was gone as well.

It was dark. Tails didn't like it dark.

"… H-hello… a-anybody… I'm lost… " Tails said in a small frightened voice. He was clearly in some deserted area on the cruise ship. Being the young kid he was he still believed in monsters. He stayed alert hoping none would come out. Despite this he still keep going down the hall, he thought it was too late to turn back. What really kept him going was the strange sound he heard at the end of the dark hallway. It sounded like whimpering, loud monstrous whimpering! Tails slowly hovered down the hallway. He flew until he reached a door. It was a rusty metal door with a dirty copper colored sign taped on it that read: **CAUTION: CHEMICALS IN LABORATORY ARE TOXIC. NO TRESPASSING! **Tails didn't want to know what that meant but he was cursed with that fact that he did. The whimpering sounds got louder and Tails was positive they were coming from behind this very door. Being the curious fox he was he decided to chance opening it. And that's what he did.

The door creaked open spookily and reviled what was on the other side of the door. It was a huge laboratory. The place was wide spaced, like everything on this ship, and had a huge glass tube in the exact center of the room. The tube was so large that it had to connect with the floor and the ceiling in order for it to fit. Tails flew up to the tube and noticed something huge inside. The thing in there was as big as the tube, making it get a little scrunched up at the tubes sides. The monster inside looked like a huge lizard with wires imbedding and puncturing the monster's skin. The tube was filled with green chemicals as well. Tails didn't know what it was but it didn't look friendly too him. The fox went up to the control panel in front of the tube, looked at the inscription, and read it.

"It says **"BIOLIZARD PROTOTYPE 2- COPYRIGHT OF ORIGINAL BLUEPRITS CREATED BY PROFESSOR GERALD 87 COMPLETE"** Tails read. "Biolizard? Who's Professor Gerald?" Tails asked.

"**ROOOOOOAAR!" **Tails heard a loud roar come from the obviously scared beast inside the tube. Tails backed up trying not to get it mad. He grew even more disturbed when the creature's eyes opened. Tails flew back again and stopped spinning his tails by accident. He fell to the ground and looked up at the beast's yellow eyes. It whimpered again. Tails couldn't help but notice it's eyes didn't look threatening. They looked…sad. Tails got up, flew toward the tube, and touched his hand on the glass.

"… You're sad aren't you?" Tails said silently. The beast merely whimpered yet again.

"What's that?" Tails didn't really understand this thing's language so he had trouble communicating with it. "I wish I knew what you were thinking so I could help." Tails said. He didn't know who or what this creature was or even why it was here but judging by the look on its face it wasn't happy. The beast nudged against the glass.

"Y-you want me to open the case for you?" Tails asked. The beast said nothing.

"Don't worry about it, I'll try." Tails said. He usually didn't help anything that looked threatening to him, he never actually wanted to get near anything like that, but something told the fox that this guy was all right.

Tails searched the control panel for an open switch or button anywhere. However, not being familiar with this technology, Tails had no idea which one opened it. All the buttons were unlabeled. He soon decided to chance trusting his gut. Tails pounded a flashing yellow button. All of a sudden he heard a huge sound of pain shrieking coming in front of him. He looked up and saw the beast being electrocuted in the glass tube.

"Hold on, I'll stop it!" Tails pressed random buttons all at once. Soon the electrocution stopped and the green water drained. A few seconds later the green water drained completely and the monster was free. Tails saw that the lizard didn't move from it's lying position on the metal floor. It looked tired and scared. Tails confronted it and reached out to touch it. When he did however it inched away.

"I'm not going to hurt you." Tails reassured as he reached out again. This time the beast let Tails put his hand on his head. All of a sudden Tails began to here a voice inside his head. It was a scared and yet calm voice. The fox was hearing the voice of the lizard. They were communicating telepathically.

"… Your name…is… Ryan?" Tails said answering to the thoughts in his head. The beast said nothing. "… You say that you miss your mommy and daddy…? Don't worry Ryan I'm sure you'll see them again. The beast blinked. "So how did you get here?" asked Tails. The beast's face all of a sudden turned to that of fright. "Huh? Look behind me?" Tails turned around to see the silver haired scientist in a white lab coat he knew as Morris. Tails immediately took his hand off the lizard's head. Morris started walking toward Tails at a normal walking passé.

"Hello Tails. I see you've stumbled upon my creation." Morris said in his usually kind voice.

"Y-yeah…wait a minute, your creation? Ryan said that he has a mommy and a daddy." Tails explained. Morris continued walking up to the huge lizard monster until he was at the beast's head.

"He did…but you see I found him in the wild all by himself. The forest he scampered out of was being invaded be lumberjacks anyway so I took him home with me. I gave him a nice home and now he's developed quite nicely I must say."

"… But if that's true then how come he looked so sad in that tube. It wasn't very roomy in there and there was even a button on that panel that shocked him. Why is that?"

"… It builds character."

"But, I…"

"Listen Tails, this monster is dangerous. Just leave." Morris said while pressing a button that made the tube reappear and form around the lizard.

"But it's not dangerous. Me and him just…"

"GET OUT!" he shouted no longer having that kind voice Tails liked much better. Tails started to get a little scared when Morris started to speak so meanly. Without a second thought he ran out of the room. "…And his name isn't Ryan. Its name is Bp2…" Morris mumbled.

_That night: 8:46pm _

Bartleby escorted Amy to the ball being held in the huge party room in the center of the ship. When they arrived they were in a HUGE white room. There was no other color present, excluding the red punch in the punch bowl, the food, and the black tuxedo's worn by the men (excluding Bartleby who wore a pink jacket, a white dress shirt, and light brown pants). Everything else was sparkling white. Bartleby, by the way, looked like a yellow colored hedgehog who was a bit taller than Amy and his hair was shaped into that of a curling style. Amy didn't care what Bartleby looked like however so it really didn't matter. There was a huge glass dome at the top of the room and it led down to the glass windows as well. It was as though everything was put into perfection at this ball. Rich people were in fact snotty and they do dwell on perfection a lot. But despite all this fancy decorating Amy just couldn't find herself to care. She then yawned out of extreme boredom.

"Amy my dear, anything wrong?" Bartleby wondered noticing she was yawning now.

"No Bartleby." Amy merely said. She was too busy thinking about her hero Sonic to worry about such nonsense as a pointless ball. It was then that she heard a _'pisst'_ sound come from the bottom of the table they were standing by. "Um Bartleby."

"Yes my love."

"Could you get me some punch?"

"Why certainly." He said letting go of her hand and walking toward the punch bowl.

"Why certainly." Amy mimicked. "Why can't rich people just say yes?" Amy asked to herself. The _'pisst'_ sound came back once again. It was then that Amy looked under the table and saw Tails sitting there with a smile on his face.

"Are you having fun yet?" Tails asked.

"The ball just started." Amy answered. "But I bet I wouldn't have much fun anyway. I'm just not the way they are." Amy said pointing to the dancing aristocrats and their wives.

"I bet Sonic sure knows how to pick up the passé of a party." Tails said.

"Speaking of Sonic, could you get him for me?"

"What?"

"Please, just find him and bring him here. I at least want someone of interest to be here."

"But I can't go out there again. I got lost the first time I did and I barely found my way back." Tails explained.

"Pleeeeeeeease. Do it for me. Pretty please." Amy begged.

"…With a cheery on top." Tails said.

"Sure and a kiss." Amy leaned in and kissed Tails' forehead. His cheeks immediately went crimson red and his hair bangs shot straight up.

"Okay I'll find Sonic." Tails said in a stunned and dream like voice as he got form underneath the table and headed for the exit.

"Oh Amy I'm back." Bartleby said holding two drinks.

"Oh goodie." Amy said sarcastically.

_At a bar not far from the ball area_

Sonic entered the bar and sat down on the stool next to a buff rich aristocrat. He was a little freaked out when he saw this man wearing a suit that was so close to ripping off his back but decide not to dwell on it.

"I'll have a nice cold beer." Said the muscle bound aristocrat. The beer was delivered to the man in no time flat. Sonic saw the man get up and walk away and stared at him ponderingly.

"What will you have kid." The bar tender said referring to the eleven-year-old hedgehog.

"Who? Me? Oh I…uh…I'll have some Sprite I guess." Sonic said. The bar tender went to get what he requested while another man walked in and sat next to Sonic. They made no eye contact.

"I'll have a Sprite." Said Smokestack as he fixed himself in the seat next to Sonic. Neither on them knew the other was sitting right next to each other. A few minutes later the bar tender had given Sonic his drink and soon Smoke his. They sat their drinking at the same passé, same speed, and they both set their glasses down at the same time holding half empty cups.

"Well this cruise is going nowhere." Sonic finally spoke while taking another drink of the lemon-lime soda.

"Tell me about it." Smoke said then let his eyes widen when he realized whom that voice was. He turned to see the very same blue hedgehog he had last seen back at Westside Island. "Hey it's you!" Smoke said in an angered voice. Sonic, still drinking his soda, turned to see who it was. He immediately spit out the soda at Smoke face in surprise when he saw him. The soda shot out of the hedgehog's mouth and into Smoke's face for about a minute until the soda was gone. They both sat there in an awkward position for a minute before Sonic took action.

"AHH! It's you!" Sonic immediately jumped off the stool and ran out the bar. Smoke sat there with an angered and drenched face for a few seconds before chasing the hedgehog with two clouds of smoke projectiles in his hands.

_Outside the cruise ship: 9:00pm_

Thousands of Eggman mini fighter ships flew toward the cruise ship rapidly. The top deck of the cruise ship also had a party going on and because of it little orange lights were set around the decks perimeter so everyone could see better. The top deck looked like one big road with orange streetlights shining on it and it created a nice orange reflection in the water. The sky was pitch black and the humming of Eggman's ships grew louder with each passing second. Suddenly all the ships became visible.

"I say. What are those tiny little things heading toward us?" One man asked as they drew closer.

"I don't know but they look threatening." Said an old woman.

"And how do you know they pose a threat?" asked the man. Suddenly a huge missile collided with the top of the deck and exploded. Suddenly more and more missiles came at them all. Soon the ships were close enough that they were literally hovering over the huge cruise ship.

"Are cruise ships really this long?" Decoe asked from inside the main ship.

"I don't think so. These aristocrats thing they're hot stuff don't they?" Bocoe asked.

"They sure do! We'll we're about to teach them a lesson they will never forget." Decoe said pressing a button on the consul. Metal Sonic just watched and let the two robots have their fun. He wasn't at all interested in what was taking place.

_Back in the ballroom _

"Hey butler! Bring me a hotdog!" Rouge demanded as she sat on the table on her own whim. The butler immediately came over.

"Miss! This is the 8th time you've called me for a 'hotdog'. And this is the 8th time I'm going to say we don't have any!" Shouted the butler in his English accent a little irritated.

"Hey don't yell at me! I don't take any lip from gays!" Rouge shouted back.

"I beg your pardon!"

"You heard me. I called you gay!"

"…Are you accusing me of being a homosexual?"

"Nothing gets by you, does it?"

"Well I've never been so insulted!"

"You're not fooling anybody with that attitude. I saw you checking out all the men in that crowd. The rich ones are the cutest aren't they?" Rouge said smugly.

"I am no homosexual!"

"Oh please! You're so fruity you could cure scurvy!" Rouge shouted then broke out laughing. The butler merely fixed his collar and walked away. "Ha Ha! Well as much fun as this is I think we'd better find that chaos emerald I was hinting about when we first got on here." Rouge suggested as she turned to Big and Froggy stuffing their faces at the table. Big turned to her when she spoke and merely nodded. When they both left Tails came back in.

"It's no use. I'll never find Sonic on this huge ship. I need to find Amy." Tails said while looking around the room. He soon spotted her by a different table then the one she was at before. He silently crawled toward her and under the table as to not be seen by Bartleby.

"Well I hope your having a fun time." Bartleby said while having another sip of the tasteless punch.

"Oodles." Amy merely said. Suddenly the glass on the top of the dome shattered, which surprised everyone. Without warning, many robots began to crash through the dome and land in certain area around the ballroom.

"What's going on?" asked Tanya Rose from the other side of the room as she saw more robots burst through the ceiling. Not just the ceiling however, they rammed through the glass windows as well.

"I don't know Tanya." Marlin Rose answered as he grabbed his wife and pulled her into his embrace. The robots extended their guns at the scared crowd and began to fire in all directions. Tails, who hid under the table, peaked his head out and saw the silver robots shooting everywhere.

"Eggman." He whispered.

_Sorry it took so long. I was taking a little break. The next chapter will be up soon. Keep reading and reviewing everyone. _


	13. Chapter 13

_Let me start by saying I'm sorry if you all hated the part with the freedom fighters last chapter. I put them in for these reasons…_

_1.I needed something for Eggman to be preoccupied with during the day so he would attack the cruise ship at night._

_2.Personally I HATE THOSE DAMN FREEDOM FIGHTERS, so I had them all killed. I didn't kill Antoine he was the only smart one in the group. He knew that people as gay and as weak as them couldn't defeat the awesome might of The Eggman (Known as Dr.Robotnik in the SatAM show but I like the way Eggman sounds and looks in the Sonic X universe)._

_That will be the last time I put any different shows from the Sonic universe in this fic. From now on I stick to the universe of Sonic X and all the video games after Sonic Adventure (which did correspond in Sonic X if you didn't know.) Now lets start this action chapter!_

**Chapter 12: Same fait as the Titanic**

Robots surrounded everyone. There was nowhere to run or hide. Amy got in front of Bartleby as a means of protecting him from the approaching invaders. Amy saw them extend their guns while she extended her hand. Out of nowhere, in a puff of pink smoke, came the Piko Piko hammer.

"Did you always have that?" Bartleby asked.

"Of course. It was given to me by a special friend." Amy said referring to the person her parents sent away. Amy extended her hammer at the robots and charged. Immediately, all the robots began a huge rampage across the ballroom. They shot everything in their path without the slightest regard for their own safety. Amy used her huge hammer to deflect the bullets shot at her and Bartleby but it seemed not to be helping the situation much.

Amy then ran toward them and started slamming the robot bodies apart.

"OH YEAH BABY! This is what I'm talking about!" Amy shouted clearly happy she was getting in on some fun, nice dangerous fun.

_In the hallway of the ship_

Sonic ran up and down the corridor of the ship trying to get away from multiple blasts coming from Smoke who was tailing him quite nicely. Smoke was able to use his smoking powers to become as light as air. This gave him the speed to catch up to Sonic without the pressure of his body holding him down. Smoke tossed another projectile at Sonic, which barely missed as they rounded a corner.

"Give it up hedgehog!" The angered smoke manipulator shouted. Sonic turned his head and stuck his tongue out at him.

"You'll never catch me!" He gloated.

"Oh really?" Smoke then picked up speed and launched a huge ball of smog at the hedgehog. The gas impaled him in the back and sent him crashing into the wall at the end of the hallway. Smoke then extended his fist as he ran as a means of striking the hedgehog while he was dazed. Sonic recovered quickly, however, and moved quickly to the side. Smoke immediately came into contact with the wall. It didn't hurt him in the least though. He turned to see the hedgehog speeding down the hallway. Smoke didn't hesitate to follow.

"Damn! This guy's fast and strong! I need to find Tails so we can leave." Sonic said to himself. Suddenly a silver robot burst through the sidewall and crashed into Sonic. Smoke was surprised when he saw this so he had no counter move. The robot and Sonic crashed into the other sidewall while Smoke slid past them both and crashed through the wall at the end of the room.

_Back in the ballroom_

Amy was doing a good job defending her parents and Bartleby but everyone else was falling victim to the robots' numerous bullets. Amy had just taken out another one when 5 more jumped out of the floor!

"Damn! They're everywhere!" Amy yelled in excitement and fear.

"Amy darling! We must leave!" Shouted her mother Tanya.

"But I can't… I… oh all right." Amy pouted. Right after that was said something crashed through the wall, startling them all. Smoke lied there in the rubble on the ground but quickly got up. The Rose family and Bartleby saw the opening and quickly ran through it. Smoke watched them run past as he wasn't interested in them. Suddenly 5 robots came toward him and shot numerous bullets at his body.

"Oh please. Your wasting you're time." Smoke informed them as the bullets went through his body and were dissolved by his smoke. Smoke then extended his hands and sent out huge smog filled shockwaves at the robots, immediately destroying them. He then turned his attention to a table that was left unharmed by the still numerous robots fluttering around the ballroom. Finding it sort of weird, he walked toward it.

_Under the table_

"Okay, I think Amy is gone." Tails said not completely sure. He didn't know whether to come out from under the table or stay in. He was so scared he didn't know what to do. If he stayed the robots would find him out sooner or later but if he left he would be killed on sight. "I wish Sonic were here." Tails said as he felt a tear come down his face. He heard the cries of the people that were out from under the table. That horrible painful shriek they admitted when they were shot rung in his ears. He couldn't bare the thought that he might turn out to be one of them. He sat and thought. _'What would Sonic do?'_ He knew what Sonic would do. He'd at least try saving his life instead of staying under here like a coward. This got the fox fired up.

"Yeah! I'm no coward!" Tails bravely crawled from under the table and looked down at the brown shoes that were in front of him. He lifted his head up to see SmokeStack hovering over him.

"Hello fox." He merely said. Tails didn't answer. Instead he quickly got up and ran toward the hole in the wall. Smoke immediately followed. The duty he had to take care of on Westside Island may have gotten in the way but this time there was nothing to stop him.

_In the wide spaced extra luggage domain_

Sonic shook his head feeling completely dazed. He had no idea where that robot came from or why it was here but he knew it wasn't for a positive reason. When the smoke had completely cleared he saw that he was in a huge area with many big doors attached to the walls. He was no longer in the sophisticated area on the ship, fore blue and silver metal was everywhere? Sonic immediately turned behind him to see the robot that crashed into him lying on the ground in a pile of its own scarp. He then looked for any sign of the opening he crashed through but couldn't find it. He must've either have fallen down a long range or been pushed so hard he flew far away from it. Either way it looked like he wasn't going back the way he came. With that he marched forward to find Tails.

"I wonder what this place is. Maybe it's an abandoned zone on this ship or something." Sonic suggested. Suddenly the ship began to rumble vigorously. The ship was under siege. It wasn't going to last very long since it was a cruise ship either. Sonic immediately started running. "I really need to find Tails."

_Outside_

"Come on Bocoe. We're up next." Decoe said running to the opening of the ship's hangar.

"I'm here already. Lets just do this." The two robots got into their individual ships and headed straight for the cruise ship that was getting bombarded with huge missiles and bullets.

_Inside the luggage domain again_

"Out of my way Dumbots!" Sonic yelled as he rammed numerous robots that were attacking him. They all exploded immediately on contact. However, more just came in their places. Sonic ran up the wall in order to escape. The robots just used their jet packs to follow him, however. "Damn it! Don't you guys ever take a break?" Sonic asked.

"Of course not. At least if the doctor tells us not too." Decoe and his ship flew in the room unexpectedly and shot many bullets at the hedgehog. Sonic immediately jumped off the side of the wall and landed on a huge wooden crate being hauled up by a metal crane. The bullets Decoe fired ended up hitting the silver robots instead.

"Nice aim." Bocoe said sarcastically. He then turned his own ship and shot it at the hedgehog. Sonic jumped off it and landed on the next crate over. Both Bocoe and Decoe flew toward him shooting multiple bullets at him, all of them missing. Eventually Sonic jumped and did a back flip. He then landed on Decoe's ship. Bocoe didn't hesitate to fire at Decoe's ship. Sonic then jumped off again and landed on a metal crane. The bullets barely missed Decoe's ship.

"What are you trying to do? Shoot the hedgehog not me!" Decoe shouted.

"Sorry. Maybe if you'd shoot him like you were suppose to you might not have come under fire." Bocoe said defensively.

"Boy, you two fight a lot. Who are you guys?" Sonic asked as he stood on the numerous piles of crates.

"I'm Bocoe, Eggman's new stationary ship commander." Bocoe said.

"No I'm his stationary ship commander!" Decoe argued.

"I am!"

"I am!"

All the while they were arguing Sonic thought it would be a good idea to give them the slip. He turned and started to tip toe away. Suddenly a huge red laser blasted the area in front of him, which startled the hell out of him. Sonic turned and looked up and saw the two ships with their guns pointed at Sonic.

"Where do you think you're going?" Bocoe asked.

"We're not done with you yet." Decoe said as they both flew toward Sonic while firing lasers at him. He immediately turned around and ran along the huge path of crates.

_The abandoned zone of the cruise ship_

The ship was getting hit with many lasers and missiles, robots were destroying everything and killing everyone, and Tails was being chased by a smoke elemental man.

Tails ran back into the scary dark area of the ship as a means of escaping from Smoke. He didn't like the idea of being here again, especially after what took place a few hours ago. It didn't seem he had any other choice though.

"You can't escape fox!" Smoke pelted another smoke filled blast at Tails. The fox turned and saw it coming. He quickly dodged to the side. The blast barely missed him as another one came directly at him again. Tails dodged that one too but stumbled a bit. This gave Smoke the chance to fire another one at him with great force this time. This time it hit Tails in the back causing him to fly forward and land on the hard torn up floor. The fox looked up at Smoke a little dazed.

"What do you want from me?" Tails asked completely scared.

"I want you dead!" Smoke slammed his smoking fist at the fox, who immediately rolled out of the way. The fist slammed against the floor and created a huge shockwave that hit Tails and sent him flying down the hall. He eventually landed near the same hallway the laboratory entrance was. Tails looked down the hallway in fear.

"I really wish Sonic were here." Tails said in fear. Suddenly he saw Smoke running rapidly toward him with his fists extended.

"This will finish it!" Smoke shouted.

"HY YAH!" Shouted a feminine voice from behind. A huge boot kicked smoke in the back hard and sent him flying down the hallway across from Tails (Not the one that led to the laboratory). Tails kept his eyes closed expecting something painful to happen but nothing ever did.

"Huh?" Still keeping his eyes closes he reached his hand out to feel if anyone was there. His hand touched something but he didn't know what it was.

"You like how it feels?" asked the feminine voice. Tails looked up and saw that he was clutched a woman. Not just that but he was clutching a woman's breast area. Tails withdrew his hand and blushed. He was now staring at a white bat wearing a purple jumpsuit.

"I'm sorry!" Tails immediately pleaded.

"Don't be. I've longed for a man to do that to me." Rouge the Bat said while smirking. Tails then saw Big the Cat with his pet Froggy on his head run past them both and down the hallway leading to the laboratory. "What do you say shorty? Feel like helping us out on an investigation?" Rouge asked.

"… Uh… okay." Tails said while still blushing. Rouge helped him up and they both ran down the hallway.

Meanwhile down the other hallway, Smoke had just gotten on his feet. The ship shook more violently again.

"Err! There is to much interruptions!" Smoke yelled while he pulled out a walkie-talkie and spoke into it. "Listen up men! I want you all to head to the top deck and shoot wildly at those Eggman ships! I don't care if it is past 9:00pm and that it will be hard to see through the darkness! I just want it done!" Smoke yelled. He heard a faint _'we're on it sir'_ on the other end. Smoke than put the device back into his pocket. "That kitsune will pay for what he did! I'll make him pay if I have to die trying!" Smoke said taking off.

_In the laboratory_

Morris pressed numerous buttons on the consul of the machine. He heard all the commotion going on not far from here. He also knew it was Eggman attacking everyone. He had to get the project finished now! The beast in the tube was at a reading of 92 percent complete.

"Excellent. Soon Bp2 will be stronger than Professor Gerald's model of the ultimate life form. That will teach that damn Egghead." He said while smirking. Just than the door was kicked through. The door flew off the hinges and fell to the laboratory's floor. This didn't seem to affect Morris in any way.

"Alright, the jig is up!" Rouge said as she stood at the doorway. Tails immediately ran past Rouge, Big, and Froggy toward the huge glass prison the beast was being held in.

"What happened to Ryan?" Tails asked. "He looks so sad."

"He shouldn't be, we're about to become the most powerful creatures on Mobius." Morris said.

"What did you do to him?" Tails turned to Morris and asked.

"Nothing. I simply created him." Morris said.

"Impossible!" Rouge butted in. "Only God can create people." Rouge explained.

"Well…that may be true… however I meant I created the beast's new body, not its original form. I used Eggman's grandfather's blue prints of the Biolizard to create his new body after I found him in the forest." Morris explained.

"What's a Biolizard?" Big asked.

"Wait, I've heard of that. That was the research project held on the first biomedical space colony called Ark right? But that was 50-years-ago. How'd you get the blue prints?" Rouge asked.

"Well, I used to work for Eggman. But after how low he rated me as a member of his crew I decided to go against him and show him that I could create a better invention then him. So then I thought, why not his grandfather's invention? I used Eggman's time machine to go back in time and set the destination to The Ark. It wasn't easy stealing those blueprints you know. Even though I slipped past the security a black hedgehog found me out. I believe his name was Shadow. Oh well, doesn't matter, point is I got the blue prints."

"What are you going to do with Ryan?" Tails asked a little scared of the once heart warming doctor.

"I'm going to fuse with him and go on a rampage across the planet. What else?"

"If your grudge is against Eggman then why are you going to kill everyone else?" Rouge asked.

"In order to prove myself I need to actually do something with the ultimate creation, not just create it." Morris explained.

"It won't work!" Tails shouted. Morris looked down at Tails with a confused expression on his face. "Ryan doesn't like what you've been doing to him. He also doesn't like what you're going to do to everyone else. He won't let you use his body to do bad things!" Tails shouted. Right after he said that Tails was met with a hard blow to the stomach. Morris held his fist in Tails' stomach for a while but eventually brought it back. As soon as he did Tails fell to the floor in pain.

"Don't call it that infernal name! His name is Bp2 understand!" Morris shouted at the fox. Tails just squirmed on the ground. "And my plan will work, fore you see, I'm going to be the one calling the shots in this beast's head!" Morris looked at the machine in front of him. It read 100 percent. "Perfect! Now, let us begin!" Morris said pulling out a dark blue chaos emerald.

"I knew there was one in here!" Rouge yelled. Big extended his fishing pole and lashed it out at Morris. However he quickly grabbed it and chucked it back. Morris than turned to his computer and pressed another button on the consul. Immediately the glass case concealing the monster opened up. Once it was open, Morris walked toward it and forced open Ryan's mouth.

"So it begins." He said before jumping inside the beast's mouth. As soon as he did a blue light emitted from the beast's body. It roared in pain; it was loud enough to be heard all over the ship. When the light dimmed, they were all staring at a huge light purple lizard with half of Morris's body sticking out the top of it's head. Morris didn't look like his usual self however. His skin was light purple, his hair was sky blue, and his eyes were yellow. The chaos emerald was attached to Morris's forehead as well.

"Behold! I am now the Metamorphic Bp2!" Morris shouted, which was immediately followed by another one of the beast's roars.

"Big deal!" said a voice from behind. They all turned to the doorway to see Smoke standing there, looking pissed off. "That cheesy model you made can never compare to the real thing. It completely pathetic that you would even need someone else's blueprints to fit you own damn needs! Some scientist you are." Smoke said sarcastically while walking forward.

"Didn't I take you out?" Rouge asked.

"… Lady, all the beer in the world couldn't take me out." Smoke said.

"What do you know?" Morris shouted clearly angered.

"A hell of a lot more than you do." Smoke said back.

"Enough!" The beast than shot a huge blast at him, which hit directly. The blast sent Rouge, Big, Froogy, and Tails to the wall. "You see how powerful I am!" Morris said not expecting to get an answer back.

"Oh I see. You're power sucks. Just like a mosquito sucking blood from human flesh." Smoke said stepping out of the blasts' smoke.

"Impossible!" Morris said.

"Ryan… don't let him take you over Ryan… " Tails said weakly. Both Smoke and Morris turned to look at him.

"The fox!" Smoke said running forward.

"I thought I told you not to call him that!' Morris shot another blast out at him. Smoke quickly launched his smoke projectile at the incoming blast at Tails. They both collided and spread across the room's floor. The floor immediately cracked then broke apart. Everyone was stunned, to stunned to move. The floor burst through itself and they all fell in the newly opened pit. Morris however quickly jumped before the floor completely caved through. The huge monstrous form of himself burst through the top of the ship and roared menacingly.

"What the hell is that?" Asked one of Smoke's men as they finally made it to the top of the roof.

"I don't know but it doesn't look friendly." Said another soldier. The beast stared down at them with a look of pure evil on its face. He didn't hesitate to shoot a huge thunderous blast at all of them. It hit directly, as expected.

"Ha, Ha, Ha! You are all my new play things." Morris laughed. Suddenly an unexpected missile hit against his neck. A huge explosion took place in that area but it didn't faze him. "Who has the gal to…?" Morris saw that he was staring directly at a huge fleet on Eggman's ships. "…Finally, I've been waiting forever for this moment to happen!" Morris shouted as he began blasting the ships. As expected the ships all shot back. Numerous holes were in the ship now, and it was beginning to drown, fast! Time would soon run out.

_Back in the luggage domain_

Sonic was ducking here and there, back and forth, and this way and that in order to try and beat these two fools but to no avail.

"How the heck is it this hard to defeat two airships?" Sonic mumbled while pulling out a ring from his glove. He grasped it and he immediately went into his ball form.

"What's that?" Bocoe asked. Soon he saw Sonic heading straight for him. Bocoe immediately turned away as the ball form of Sonic flew toward him. Sonic went past Bocoe then headed for Decoe.

"Hey, I don't want to be toast either!" Decoe began shooting missiles at Sonic. The crafty hedgehog than maneuvered his way around them and let them collide with each other. Sonic blasted his way straight through Decoe's ship. "Oh no! I'm out of here!" Decoe pulled the lever on the consul that immediately flung him out of the ship. He quickly pulled out a parasol and glided to the ground.

"How dare you! These ships were customized perfectly and you ruin them!" Bocoe said to Sonic. Behind them Decoe's ship is seen exploding.

"Well if they can be destroyed I guess they're not perfect then." Sonic said running on the crates toward Bocoe's ship.

"Err! Lets do autopilot now." Bocoe pressed a red button on his consul that turned the ships autopilot on. Bocoe then opened the hatch and pulled out a ray gun then pointed it at Sonic's direction.

"A ray gun? That the best you got?" Sonic asked. Bocoe fired one blast from his gun, which created a huge thunderous blast behind Sonic. The hedgehog turned around and saw the destruction one blast from that thing did. "Whoa."

"And this still isn't the best we've got." Bocoe jumped out the ship and shot multiple blasts at Sonic. The hedgehog jumped in the air and dodged them all, letting them hit the ships surface below him. The explosions they caused sent Sonic flying even higher. The speed the hedgehog was picking while he was flying toward him took Bocoe by surprise. The both rammed into each other and fell.

"Don't worry, I've got you Bocoe." Decoe held out his arms as a means to catch him. However, instead of catching Bocoe he caught Sonic the Hedgehog instead.

"Awe, I didn't know you cared." Sonic said as he ran out of Decoe's hands. Before the gold robot could go after him Bocoe fell directly on top of him.

"Heh, heh, heh, now that that's over I can focus on finding Tails and Amy." Sonic ran far across the room until he saw a small exit. The hedgehog ran out of the domain and quickly headed for the next area.

_In a Random hallway_

Amy, her family, and Bartleby were finding it hard not to round a corner without a silver robot blocking their path. Even so, Amy swung her hammer at each one that came by.

"How much farther till we reach the life boats?" Bartleby asked.

"I don't know. This place is extremely huge. It could take forever to find them. See! I told you mom and dad! Bigger isn't always better!" Amy said clearly angry.

"This isn't our fault Amy." Marlin Rose shouted.

"Yes it is! Everything bad that happens to me is always your fault! I never wanted to go on this stupid cruise!" Amy yelled then noticed many scared people running down the halls.

"Quickly the life boats are in this direction!" said a man as he stopped to tell the Rose family, then continued to run. Suddenly the whole ship started to rock backward. They all slid back toward the wall when it happened.

"What's going on?" asked Tanya Rose.

"The ships sinking. The back end must be tipping backward because that's where the most holes in the ship must be. Come on." Amy said leading them down the path all the scared personal were headed. Suddenly many robots burst through the walls and took them all by surprise. They didn't hesitate to fire. Three bullets struck Marlin and one struck Tanya. Before they could keep firing a blue blur rushed around the robots and destroyed them quickly. Amy looked forward and saw her hero, Sonic the Hedgehog emerge from the smoke. She immediately ran toward him for another bone crushing hug.

"Oh Sonic! It's horrible! Look what happened to my parents!" Amy cried. Sonic looked down at the bleeding bodies of the two money grubbing tyrants. Even if they were tyrants they were still Amy's parents.

"… I'm sorry Amy." Sonic merely said. Suddenly the ship started to sink backward even more. Bartleby and Sonic clung onto the sharp ends of the paintings on the wall to prevent themselves from falling back. Amy was already clinging to Sonic so she didn't need to worry. Amy didn't even glance back at her parent's bodies as they slid backward toward the sinking end of the ship.

"I think we'd better hurry or we'll sink as well." Bartleby suggested.

"Right." Sonic then jumped toward Bartleby grabbed him by the coat and ran up the hall. It felt as if they we're running up a long ramp. None of them cared however. They needed to get to safety and quick.

_Outside _

Metal Sonic watched all the Eggman ships fighting the humungous beast on the top of the ship. He could see that the cruise ship was tipping over. They were causing a lot more trouble then expected.

"What is the point of all this senseless killing Eggman? What are you trying to gain out of it all?" Metal Sonic said to himself while looking at the multiple explosions lighting up the night sky. He then looked closer at all the beast and saw a blue chaos emerald on Morris's head. "Hello, what's this?" Metal immediately got out of his seat and jumped out the window. The beast shot more rapidly as the ship's back half started to sink and the top half started to rise out of the water. Metal launched himself at the beast using his jetpack.

"No one can defeat me! Not even you Eggman!" Morris shouted.

"Eggman isn't here right now!" Metal shouted as he headed for the beast's head. Morris quickly and mentally commanded Bp2 to blast Metal Sonic. Metal, however, was able to dodge every single red energy blast that was shot at him with ease.

"You think you can take me on so easily? Think again!" Morris shouted as a force field appeared around the beast. Metal didn't have time to react as he slammed into the force field, fell toward the ship's surface, and crashed through it.

"Weak minded robot." Morris mumbled as he continued to take the Egg fleet ships out.

_On the lower deck of the ship_

Tails lied on the floor completely unconscious for a couple of minutes before getting up. The ship had so many holes in it the whole thing was beginning to flood. Tails looked at the water rising in confusion.

"Did I drool that much while I was asleep?" Tails wondered. He then heard a familiar roar come from above him. "Ryan…" Tails knew that roar. It was Ryan's roar of pain and sadness. The fox immediately twirled his tails and shot upward toward the top deck.

"Don't worry Ryan, I'll save you." That's when Tails felt something grab against his leg. The fox screamed in pain. His leg still didn't heal enough from the time he was shot. Something was pulling him down. Tails looked at his foot and saw a silver Eggman mech holding him. Tails was taken toward the ground where many more meches were waiting for him. They immediately started to gang up on Tails.

**"ROOOOOAAAR!"** Another roar came from Ryan.

"No. Ryan… " Tails couldn't get away from the robots. Ryan couldn't be helped.

"No… I'm not going to give up on my friends! Sonic wouldn't! Neither will I!" Tails twirled his tails vigorously and sent every single robot flying in all directions. They all crashed and exploded as Tails shot himself up again. "Hang on Ryan. I'm coming!" Tails burst through the floor of the upper deck and saw the monster he claimed was his friend blasting at the numerous Eggman ships in the sky.

"Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha! You're going down! All of you!" Morris shouted.

"RYAN!" Tails shouted at the beast. Morris and the beast's head turned to face the fox.

"What do you want?" Morris shouted angrily.

"RYAN! SNAP OUT OF IT!" Tails tried to yell as loud as he could so his monster friend could here him somewhere in his head. However, it didn't seem to work.

"HA! Are you still going on about that Ryan crap! I told you his name is Bp2 and together we are the Metamorphic Bp2! Do you understand that wench?" He yelled.

"Ryan! Don't listen to this meanie! He isn't you! Fight him! You're stronger than he will ever be!" Tails shouted.

"Enough of this crap! Attack!" Morris commanded. Ryan did nothing. Morris looked down at the beast's head in shock. "Listen to me! Do as I say and destroy that fox!" This time Ryan shot a huge blast at Tails. The fox immediately grew scared. Before it struck him, however, and mysterious force grabbed him and pulled him away from the impact just in time.

"Are you crazy kid? You could've gotten killed!" said a concerned Rouge the Bat.

"I know… but Ryan is in there somewhere. I haven't known him for that long but I know he doesn't want to do what he's doing." Tails said.

"I know too. It's that chaos emerald. As long as it's stuck to Morris' skull we can't snap it out of that damn trance. Big! Go for the emerald again!" Rouge shouted across from her.

"Okay!" Big, along with his pet frog, climbed to onto the beast's back and headed for it's head.

"Hey! Get off of me!" Morris shouted and began to shake Ryan's huge body as a means of trying to shack him off. Big held his ground however. Once he reached the top he used his fishing pole to rap the line around the half of Morris's body that still existed. "What are you doing?" He yelled.

"Go now Tails!" Rouge shouted. Tails jumped up and twirled his tails to take flight. The fox flew to Morris' head and began pulling at the chaos emerald stuck in Morris' skull while Big subdued him. Eventually Tails pulled so hard th4e chaos emerald popped off and headed of the deck. Big undid his line and jumped off Morris' head to attempt to retrieve it. However it fell through the hole Metal Sonic made earlier.

"No! It's right below the engine room!" Rouge shouted as she and Big ran toward the hole. Suddenly there was a flash of blue light coming from behind. They both turned and saw they monster screaming out in the night sky.

"What! No!" Morris couldn't control the beast as it slammed into the deck. Right about now half of the ship's front side was in the air. Rouge, Big and Froggy slid down the slanted ship until they reached the metal bars on the perimeter.

"We still have the purple emerald." Big said pointed to the nap sack around his shoulder.

"That's great. Now all we need is a ride off this ship." Rouge said. Ryan's body slid down toward the perimeter as well. Morris had lost all control.

"No Damn it! Damn it all to hell!" Morris shouted. He was apart of this beast now. Without the chaos emerald he couldn't move. He was a vegetable. Suddenly many missiles blasted against Morris' body. He and the beast cried out on pain as they struck the huge lizard body.

"Ryan!" Tails flew toward Ryan's face as the missiles kept striking the lizard's body.

"Impossible! Eggman's ships will not destroy my creation! I won't allow it! No!" Morris shouted before numerous missiles struck him directly. Since the emerald wasn't there the force field didn't show up. Morris was obliterated.

"Ryan, get up!" Tails shouted. Ryan didn't move a muscle. Instead it merely smiled at Tails. Tails didn't have time to say anything else before the rest of Ryan's body was obliterated as well. The resulting explosion made the ship catch on fire. Tails hovered there with tears on his face as he watched his friend go up in flames.

"…Ryan."

_In the weapons room_

"Don't worry Bocoe, I know where we can get supplies! These rich people always keep hidden military flying tanks somewhere." Decoe said running through the area.

"How do you know that?" Bocoe asked.

"I read it in a brochure before we got here. Gotta come prepared." Decoe answered before they heard a huge engine roar.

"What was that?" Bocoe asked. Suddenly a huge green camouflage flying military tank with spinning blades at the sides and no wheels flew by them. "Was that the tank you spoke of?"

"Yes it is?" Decoe said stunned. Who else knew about the tank?

"That was easy. Now to destroy the rest of those Eggman ships! Next time I'll have your head kitsune!" Smoke said as he piloted the tank out on the open deck.

"Now what?" Decoe asked noticing the ship was starting to actually sink.

"Wait a minute, the hedgehog destroyed your ship but mine is still on autopilot." Bocoe pressed a button on the remote control he had and the sound of a car alarm was heard. Soon Bocoe's ship flew by and the both hoped in.

"Next time Sonic the Hedgehog!" Both yelled in unison.

"That was fun." Decoe said.

"Yes. I can see why the doctor loves to do it so much. At least that's what it said in his records." Bocoe said as they both flew out of the ship as well.

In escape pod/life boat area 

Many people had already left the ship in the escape pods. The lifeboats were useless considering the half of the ship they were all in was completely underwater. Sonic, Amy, and Bartleby all ran toward the escape pods. There was only one left.

"Boy aren't we lucky." Bartleby said in excitement as he climbed in. Amy was about to as well but she noticed Sonic wasn't moving.

"Aren't you coming Sonic?" Amy asked.

"… I'm going back for Tails." Sonic announced.

"What? But…"

"I have to. You and Bartleby leave now." Sonic demanded. Amy stood for a second then agreed. With that Sonic ran back to find Tails.

"Be careful Sonic." Amy said as they shut the hatch door and left the sinking ship.

_On the top deck_

Rouge, Big, and Froggy were stuck on the perimeter. It seems if though they had no chance of escape. Suddenly a huge flying tank burst through the top deck and hovered there.

"Hello! Big, I think we found our ticket out of here." Rouge said.

"Lets go." Big answered.

"Ribbit." Froggy agreed. Rouge picked up Big by the shoulders (Froggy rode in the open bag) and tried her best to carry him toward the huge flying tank. Once they landed on its roof Rouge knocked on the glass. Smoke looked up to see who it was.

"What do you want?" He asked coldly.

"Do you mind letting us in?" Rouge asked.

"… Sure come in." Smoke said without thinking. He couldn't deny his G.U.N principle to help those in trouble, especially if it was a woman, even though she did kick him in the back. Rouge, Big, and Froggy got into the ship when Smoke lifted the glass dome. He then closed it and faced the remaining Eggman ships. "You like fireworks?" Smoke asked.

"Of course. Can you make me some?" Rouge asked. Smoke smiled.

"I'd be honored to." Smoke then charged his huge tank at the ships and began attacking them.

_The engine room_

The blue chaos emerald was lying on a small platform over Tails' head. He flew down there as a means of finding Sonic but he wasn't having much luck. That's when he saw a blue light flash above him. Tails looked up and saw the chaos emerald, high above him.

"It's another one of those lucky rocks I had back on Westside Island." Tails said in astonishment. He then noticed a metal figure heading toward it. "Hey, I know him." Tails pointed out.

"There it is. It's all mine." Metal Sonic said as he flew toward it. Tails was about to do something when he heard a crash come from the other side of the flooded room. Sonic burst through the wall and ran up the huge engine crane toward the chaos emerald.

"I don't think so buddy." Sonic said as he reached for the emerald. They both rammed into each other, however, and the chaos emerald fell off the side. The two rivals jumped off the crane as a means of catching it.

"You think you can beat me?" Metal Sonic asked.

"I know I can." Sonic said pulling out a ring. Metal quickly kicked it out of his hand however. Before Sonic could react metal kicked him again. Sonic flew across the room and crashed into the engine's generator. Metal then grabbed the emerald and landed on a floating piece of metal that was in the large pool of water. Sonic looked up and noticed Metal had the emerald. That was perfect. His ring was gone and the robot has the emerald. Sonic looked around the area and spotted his ring, floating in the water behind Metal. Without hesitation, Sonic quickly jumped off the generator and ran for the ring.

"Fool." Metal muttered as he jumped up and shot large beams out at Sonic. Sonic quickly dodged each one that came his way and reached for the ring. With a stroke of luck Sonic grabbed it and turned to his ball form. He could originally do this without the ring but the ring supplies a power-up for him. He seriously needed one to face this dude. Sonic shot himself straight at Metal and hit him directly. Metal fell on the metal platform hard while Sonic landed gracefully.

"Yeah! Go Sonic!" Tails shouted in excitement. Metal got up and saw the opening was beginning to fill with water. The ship was half way completely sunken. The blue emerald was still in Metal's grasp so he didn't care much for the fight anymore.

"Farewell hedgehog." Metal said taking off. He flew outside and went back to his a main ship. He soon discovered that a flying military tank was destroying all the ships. "Attention, All fleet ships retreat! I repeat, retreat!" Metal said in the intercom. The remaining ships did as they were told and flew away at a tremendous speed along with Metal Sonic's ship. Smoke's tank all of a sudden stopped destroing the ships. They all sat in the cockpit and watched them leave.

"Well that was fun. Lets go." Smoke said flying off as well.

_Back in the ship_

Sonic ran toward Tails and picked him up. He then ran up the wall, obviously trying to escape. However, all the water at the side of the wall made him slip and fall back toward the metal debris. When Sonic landed he looked up a bit concerned.

"S-Sonic, are we going to live." Tails asked.

"… You bet we are." Sonic reassured. He couldn't swim in water but if his new plan worked he wouldn't need to. Sonic clutched Tails' arm and his ring then faced the generator. "I know this is a crazy and idiotic plan but it'll have to do." Sonic turned into his ball form, with Tails in it as well, and then shot himself at the generator. "Brace yourself!" he yelled as they crashed through the generator with full force.

At that very moment the entire ship exploded.

_Well I hope you liked it as much as I did. If not maybe more. Review please and as always I'll be back with another chapter. _


	14. Chapter 14

_Let me start by telling you all that I suck at writing titles! In the last chapter I barely tried because I was in such a hurry to get it started. Anyway I'll just get started with this one. Read and Review!_

**Chapter 13: Legend True! Path to Angel Island!**

"Hey bar tender! Get off your drunk ass and bring me another beer!" Shouted an angry huge half-robot male. He was large in size and had visible, yellow-colored, and mechanical muscles. His whole body was covered in yellow metal. His arms, his fist, his feet, everything! He had one eye in the middle of his head that was V-shaped. He also had a yellow cape that matched his attire. The human form of him is locked inside the robot shell but for now he takes the identity of a robot.

"Okay. Here you are sir." Said the bar tender as he, while shacking, gave him the beer. The robot took it and chugged it down. He soon noticed the bar tender was staring at him weirdly. Come to think of it, everyone was looking at him strangely. It took him a few minutes to realize something was up. Then he processed it.

"…Oh I get it. You are all staring because I'm a robot who can drink beer. Well, let me inform you. I don't just drink the beer I taste it too. The best part is I can drink as much as I want without suffering alcohol poisoning. Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha!" He said aloud. He _can_ actually taste the beer but it has no health risking affect on him. Being a robot he had that advantage. The bar tender tried to act like it was any regular, normal situation.

"Okay then…" The bar tender got up and put the robot's check on the table. The robot saw it at the corner of his eye and picked it up. The next outburst that happened scared everyone.

"WHAT! 6 DOLLARS FOR 3 LITTER BOTTLES OF BEER!!!" The robot yelled. Everyone nearly fell out of their seat when he started to yell.

"Well yes sir… it is a lot of beer… and besides it's only 6 bucks?"

"A lot of beer? Any number below 100,000,000 is considered little to me!"

"So then why is 6 bucks high to you then?" Asked the bar tender. The robot stood in an awkward pose for a few minutes until his sweat dropped.

"… Because… Because shut up!" he yelled while slamming his fist into the wooden counter and breaking it in half. The scared bar tender ran from behind the counter and out the door. The now terrified costumers of the bar were about to leave when the door shot open. The robot turned and saw a man wearing a police uniform, black sunglasses, a blue hat, and had a toothpick in his mouth. The robot was suddenly intrigued by this person's appearance.

"There any trouble?" He asked in a cool, calm and laid back voice.

"And just who the hell are you?" asked the bulky yellow robot.

"I'm the sheriff. I'm sheriff McMussly! And you?"

"I'm known as Robot Commander Igneous Rock!" shouted the robot.

"Well Igneous, looks like I'm going to half to take you down town." He said while advancing toward him. As soon as he did the crowd cheered.

"Yeah! It's Sheriff McMussly! He'll save us like he always has!" shouted one man.

"Yeah! He even took down the Crab Crook the other day. He was on the FBI's most wanted list!" Shouted a woman.

"Go McMussly!" shouted another male.

"Heh, heh, heh." McMussly chuckled. "You hear that? Those people are all cheering for me. You do know the good guys always win right. The Crab Cook found that out the hard way and so will you." He stated.

"Oh really?" Igneous said unfazed. "You do know I'm a robot right?"

"I don't care if you're a robot. All robots are is mindless pieces of machinery slapped together in under a week. They all do what you say. So what if you have sort of a free spirit. It'll be easy knowing you won't resist." The sheriff said pulling out handcuffs. They weren't big enough to fit on the robot's hand, for his hands were bulging, but the sheriff didn't know that. Igneous smiled at this guy's stupidity. He decided to have a little fun with this.

"Okay you got me." Igneous said while holding out his hands. The sheriff kept advancing toward him with a huge grin on his face. Just then Igneous lifted up his foot and slammed it on the ground. The bar shook a little but nothing major happened.

"Heh, Heh, It'll take a little more then a small-UHF!!!" the sheriff started before a huge boulder burst through the floor he was under and slammed into him hard. The boulder then crashed through the ceiling and shot straight up in the air, taking McMussly with him. The whole crowd stared in fear and amazement. How'd the sheriff lose so easily?"

"You'd better watch who you're calling mindless. I also have the power to control all type of rock! Oh yeah and that Crab Crook guy was really your brother who you paid to do all those crimes then let him escape from prison as soon as you arrested him. I love snooping around in other people's business!" Igneous said while walking over to the counter, picking up a huge tub of beer, and left the bar. Everyone stared for a while before the boulder came back down and slammed into the bar. It created so much turbulence that it demolished the entire bar and took out a few trees in the area as well!

Satisfied with what had just happened, Igneous decided to head back to his base. Just then his communicator began beeping. He didn't hesitate to answer it.

"Hello! Igneous Rock here. Who are you and why the hell should I give a damn?"

"_What was that Igneous!"_ Shouted Eggman from the other side.

"Oh, Eggman! It's you! I was just saying that to uh… I got nothing."

"Okay then. Listen I'm in a good mood today and I want to keep it that way. That's why I'm sending you out on a mission to Angel Island."

"Angel Island?"

"Yes. Darkness said the cruise ship exploded so the next thing to happen in the prophecy is for them to go to Angel Island. I want you to go there and steal the Master Emerald. That gullible echidna I talked to will think Sonic and Tails are there to steal it. So while he is fighting them you sneak by and take it."

"But sneaking isn't what I do. I'm am a body builder, not a ninja."

"_Body Builder? You're a freak' in robot!" _

"… Oh alright… where is this Angel Island?"

_Meanwhile in an unknown area_

"… Ugh… what the hell happened? I feel like I was pounded on by a jackhammer…" Sonic's eyes opened and his was staring at a man wearing a white outfit with bagging white pants that folded into his pointy and small shoes. He also has white bandanas around his head and wrists. Sonic lied up and saw that many other men were behind him that had the same attire on.

"Hello. It seems your awake."

"Yeah… who're you?" asked the curious and confused hedgehog.

"I'm make that clear when your friend finishes awakening." He said pointed to the fox on the bed next to his. Sonic looked at the bed beside him.

"Tails?" He said. The fox stirred and opened his eyes to see many people and Sonic staring at him.

"AHHH!" Tails shouted in fear.

"It's alright… I think…" Sonic tried to reassure.

"Who are all you people?" Tails asked.

"I am known as King Watts. This is Watt palace." The king said gracefully.

"Wow… really…well how'd we get here?" asked Sonic.

"We heard an explosion below us and then heard a crash on the roof. I had my men check outside and we found you two lying there unconscious. It's a good thing you weren't in any bad shape." King Watts stated.

"Whoo Hoo! My plan worked!" Sonic shouted.

"What plan?" Tails asked.

"My plan was that I'd crash through the ships generator and cause it to explode. Once that happened we would get jet propelled in the sky. Odds were we would land on land."

"The odds were probably A million to one." Tails explained.

"Boy am I glad the one came through huh." Sonic said before laughing. Tails just sighed.

"Really now? It could've been due to the fact that our palace has its own magnetized polarity. This could've caused you to crash into our roof since you were close enough to it." Explained King Watt.

"… Oh… well thanks for saving us. Come on Tails." Sonic grabbed Tails' arm and jetted out the room and down the hall.

"Oh mister hedgehog, I must inform you that…!" King Watt started but the speedy demon was already gone. Sonic ran toward what seemed like the front door and sure enough was. Sonic opened it and stuck his foot out. His foot, however, felt nothing touch it. Sonic looked down at it and saw that he was also looking down at clouds! Sonic looked all over the outside area and saw that they were in the sky. The hedgehog quickly put his foot back inside and slammed the door in a panic. This made him let go of Tails in the process.

"WHAT THE HELL!!!" Sonic shouted completely confused and freaked out.

"I tried to warn you." King Watt approached them both. "When you were blasted in the air you never came back down. Instead the spiritual powers of the castle pulled you both toward the roof since you were close enough. Watt Palace is a palace in the sky." He explained.

"Really?" Asked Sonic.

"That's cool! I love being in the sky!" Tails said aloud. The fox's fascination with flight had only been fueled by the newly acquired information. In reality, the minute he woke up, he could tell they were in the sky. He always got this weird yet comforting sensation when he was in the air. It made him feel at home and at peace.

"Actually it isn't as cool as you think Tails. We're here with no way to get back down there!" Sonic shouted.

"Actually we have flight transportation that can help you accomplish that task." King Watt explained.

"You do?" Sonic asked calming down a bit. The King nodded. "Great! So is their any food to eat here?" Asked a hungry hedgehog.

_A few minutes later_

Sonic and Tails were seated at a large rectangular table with many residents of the palace seated around it. Sonic sat at one far end off the table, Tails sat beside him, and he King sat at the other end. Not paying any attention to their manners, the fox and the hedgehog began to eat vigorously to no end. The people across the table watched the disturbing scene of them eating till their hearts content.

"They eat as if they had black holes for stomachs." One guy whispered to another. Sonic had just finished eating his 4th chilidog that was surprisingly supplied in this palace. Tails had just finished eating his 3rd and was moving on to his fourth.

"Uh…so mister hedgehog, where pray tell are you headed?" Asked King Watt. Sonic picked up his 5th chilidog and began eating and talking to the King at the same time. This made smacking sounds inside his mouth every time he spoke.

"We're _'smack'_ on our way _'smack'_ to Angel Island." Sonic said to everyone. The crowd gasped when they heard that. Sonic and Tails both stopped eating.

"Is that bad?" asked the confused fox.

"My good man, it is nowhere near safe to go to that island." King Watt stated.

"So it really does exist?" asked Sonic.

"Oh yes. It does exist."

"What's so bad about going there?" Tails asked.

"For years me and my men were aware of the island's existence, however, we never actually sent anyone to explore there. Once I tried it. I sent my toughest warriors to search and explore there and we waited for their return. But they never came back. I sent more and more there to find out what happened to my warriors but the result stayed the same." King Watt explained.

"Sounds scary." Tails admitted.

"Indeed. My soldiers were very tough I might add. It would take an incredible force to take them down. The only report we got back was a letter from the island."

Sonic raised an eyebrow, clearly intrigued.

" It read that whoever is there has defeated my men. It also read that if we ever try to capture the master emerald again we would pay the price. That was basically it." The king continued.

"The master emerald?" Sonic asked.

"Yes. It was said to be an enormous sparkling green emerald that was past down from generations to those who lived in the echidna clan. It's history reached back to before 4000 years ago."

"That's a long haul!" Sonic said surprised.

"We don't know much about the island or who is guarding it but if they have the Master Emerald then they can't be up to any good."

"Why? You said the Master Emerald was passed down to a bunch of echidnas right? So whoever is guarding it is an echidna." Tails said. The King shook his head in response.

"Impossible. Legend also says that all the echidnas in the echidna clan were taken out by a powerful being known as Perfect Chaos. Whoever is there is obviously not an echidna or at least one of the echidna clan." Explained the king.

"Are you sure that not a single echidna survived that attack?" Sonic asked.

"Positive." The King stated. Sonic sat and thought long and hard.

"Okay then I've decided!" Sonic said getting up and putting his foot on the table.

"Hey I just cleaned that!" Shouted a man in the background.

"You've decided what Sonic?" Tails wanted to know.

"I've decided to go to Angel Island and bring all your men back!" Sonic announced.

"Really? You'd do that for us?" the King asked surprised.

"Of course." Sonic merely said.

"But Sonic, it sounds scary. I don't want to go to an Island and never come back." Tails pouted. Sonic smiled at the fox and winked.

"Don't worry Tails. You're big bro won't let his little bro disappear." Sonic reassured.

"Big Bro…little bro?" Tails mumbled hearing the words from the hedgehog's mouth for the first time. "You mean we're not just friends but… brothers? COOL!!!" Tails shouted completely pumped up. This made Sonic smile wider.

"People of Watt Palace! I vow to go to Angel Island, defeat the force that has captured them, find your soldiers, and bring them BACK…" Sonic shouted. The whole room flooded with cheers. "…After I get six more chilidogs." Sonic finished. Everyone immediately stopped cheering and made an anime fall.

_Outside the castle _

King Watt led Sonic, Tails, and everyone else out the back door. This lead to a huge path way in the sky. Sonic and Tails both looked down the seemingly long stone pathway that reached across the sky and penetrated the clouds. It seemed that they had a long way to go.

"This is the 'Halo path'. It is the very path my soldiers took to get to Angel Island. Go across it and you will reach Angel Island in a few months." Explained the King.

"DWAAAAAAAAAAHH!!!" Both Sonic and Tails shouted. "A FEW MONTHS!!!" They shouted again.

"Why yes. This path is extremely long. At normal passé it would take a few months like I don't know 28 months."

"THAT'S NOT A FEW MONTHS!!!" They both yelled again.

"Maybe, but it is the only way to get there."

"Oh well. It's not a problem. I'll just run there I should get there in a few…uh…days tops." Sonic said unsure.

"Actually if you go extremely fast you will still be moving at a passé' that only gets you there in a few months." The king said.

"What! Why?"

"Because there are powerful forces that lurk across the pathway. If you can defeat them or get by them then the time limit to reaching there would decrease. Say it's 28 months now; it will be 28 weeks when you defeat the first obstacle. Then it would be 28 days, then 28 hours, and then 28 minutes, to 28 seconds." Summed the King.

"Okay. So all I gotta do when I get to these obstacles is to kick their asses and then I get there faster, sounds easy enough." Sonic said while stretching.

"I can help to." Tails said still fired up.

"I know you can buddy." Sonic said. The hedgehog wasn't that worried about the fox. Should a problem arise that kitsune demon inside him would always go off. Sonic wondered how that was affecting the fox physically. He wondered if every time he transformed into that monster it was destroying him. Tails might be strong but if that kitsune demon gets to strong for Tails' body to handle, he might…

"Are we going now Sonic." Tails asked.

"…Huh? Oh yeah. Lets go!" Sonic said grabbing Tails' arm and sped down the pathway.

The King watched as they ran and said one last statement.

"Good luck… suckers!"

_On an unknown island_

"I can't believe that we made it out of that one alive." Bartleby stretched himself out as soon as he and Amy got out of their escape pod.

"…Uh huh." Amy merely said sadly.

"I mean never in a million years would I suspect that such an event would occur and that we would be one of the few survivors. It truly is a miracle!"

"…Yeah." Amy said again with a huge amount of noticeable sadness in her voice. Bartleby quickly caught up on the fact that she was sad and in need of comforting.

"Something troubling you Amy?" He asked as he approached her.

"…Well…I…nothing."

"I see…so your worried about Sonic right?"

"How'd you…"

"Oh please. It's written all over your face. You have a crush on him don't you."

"Well yeah, I mean, I do, but since you're here"

"Amy, don't worry about me. You're parents put the future husband and wife hold on us. Now that they're both gone I'm not your fiancé any more. You're free to date or crush on whoever you like." Bartleby explained.

"…Yeah…I guess but…"

"Don't worry about the hedgehog. He will be fine."

"Are you sure?"

"If you can survive facing off against deadly super weapons like those robots and face huge airships complete with multi functional cannons and lasers then I think a sinking boat won't be a problem."

"I guess but…he can't swim in water."

"He probably doesn't need to swim."

"You sure?"

"Positive."

"...Okay then...I guess it will be okay." Amy was getting her confidence back.

"Let me tell you a little secret. I really wasn't that attracted to you." He admitted.

"Hey!" Amy shouted playfully.

"Oh come on. Deep down I know you felt the same way."

"Well…I guess your right." Amy smiled, as did Bartleby.

"I guess you're not the rich tyrant I thought you were. Thanks Bartleby." Amy said.

"Anytime."

"Listen…I'm going to stay a little longer on this island and find out if anyone knows anything about Sonic here. You take the escape pod and head toward land which I'm sure is due North of here." Amy suggested.

"Are you crazy? If I leave you might not have any way of getting back?"

"I'm aware of that." Amy said.

"What on Earth could make you want to decide to stay?"

"…True love." Amy merely stated.

"You…you know where we are don't you?"

"Maybe you should hurry up and leave. Don't worry about me I'll be fine." Amy said.

"You are an amazing girl." Bartleby said walking toward the pod and hopping in. "I bet you're happy you're not a rich girl anymore." He said closing the hatch and taking off across the water.

"More than you could ever imagine." Amy said before she walked off into the snow-covered forest of the island.

_Back on The Halo Path_

Sonic's feet were getting seriously tired from all this running. This usually happened very rarely but it was happening now. Eventually his feet came to a stop. Him and Tails sat on the stone pathway and panted.

"It's taking so long Sonic. Are we there yet?" Tails whined.

"Well I don't know Tails. Does it look like we're there?" Sonic said through numerous panting.

"I thought we would at least meet the first boss by now." Tails said while lying on his flat back.

"Yeah it has been an hour. Actually I'm not completely sure how it works here on this path but I know in reality it has been a hour." Sonic explained.

"Whoa! We're far!" Tail said looking at the direction they came. Sonic got up and looked down the same direction. No sign of the palace was visible.

"Wow we have gone far!" Sonic turned his attention to the rest of the path. "And I think we still have a long way to go." Sonic said getting up and walking instead of running this time. Tails immediately followed the hedgehog's actions.

_After an hour later of walking and stopping a few times_

Sonic and Tails were now in a different section of the path way and they could tell. The once blue sky filled with loads of white clouds was now a gray sky filled with fog as thick as pea soup.

"I guess we are entering the first obstacle. Be on your toes and watch out for anything that hints of danger." Sonic warned as he continued ahead. Tails nodded and as soon as he did his foot hit something.

"What the…" Tails looked down and saw a skull at his foot. Tails was about to scream when he remembered he was not supposed to get scared. Tails saw that Sonic was a little ahead of him so he went in pursuit after him.

"Boy, I wonder if there is anything out here after all." Sonic said looking sideways when he really should be looking down. Tails walked past many areas that Sonic did and found skulls and other bones found in an individual all over the place. Tails had to clamp his mouth shut to refrain from screaming.

"Sonic…I sense danger." Tails said while poking Sonic's shoulder when he finally caught up. Eventually Sonic felt his feet hitting something as well. Not only his feet but also his legs too. Sonic looked down and saw many, many, many bones covering his feet. He looked over at Tails as well. The poor fox was shacking with fear, he had tears welling up in his eyes, and he had his mouth clamped shut for no apparent reason.

"I think we're almost there. Hang in their buddy." Sonic said as they approached a wide spaced area. Both Sonic and Tails stepped into the area that was equally covered in bones and junk and looked around the quiet area. They couldn't advance anymore because there was no walkway past this point. They both tried to make out two figures at the end of the wide spaced area. When the fog cleared from their spot they were both visible.

"**AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!"** Tails shouted releasing all the screams he had saved up till this moment. Sonic ducked when Tails screamed as if it were a barrage of bullets shooting at his ear at once.

"Whoa, whoa, chill out. They are just statues." Sonic informed him. Tails looked at them more closely and found that Sonic was right. They were two giant snake statues sitting at the end of the area.

"Heh, heh, I knew that." Tails said while calming down.

"Sure you did." Sonic said.

"**WHO DARES TO ENTER OUR DOMAIN!!!?"**

"**AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"** Tails screamed again at the sound of the scary voices. Sonic looked around the whole area to see who it was and he found nothing. Then his eyes fixed on the statues. Their stone eyes were now shining with red.

"It's…It's the statues?" Sonic asked.

"**STATE YOUR BUISNESS HERE!!!"** Said the statues again. Sonic didn't know what was going on but he decided to give them an answer.

"We've come to get by you and reach Angel Island." Sonic said formally.

"**IF YOU WISH TO PASS THEN YOU MUST FIRST DEFEAT US IN A DUAL TO THE DEATH!!!"** The statues shouted.

"And how am I going to fight you? You're both statues." Sonic asked. Suddenly there was the sound of crackling rocks coming from the statues. They began to rumble and no sooner had they turned from sheer rock to live snakes with flesh covering their bodies.

"They're alive!" Shouted a freaked out Tails.

"Ha, Ha, Ha, this will be fun." Sonic said getting into a fighting stance.

"**PREPARE TO BE DESTROYED!!!"** They both shouted.

"No thank you." Sonic said advancing toward them. The snakes held their ground. Sonic jumped up and met their faces. Before he could do anything, however, he was met with large gusts of purple haze that emitted from the snakes' mouths. Sonic fell backward when the haze contacted his face and landed hard on the ground. Tails immediately ran up to him.

"Sonic, are you alright?" Tails looked down at his friend a bit worried. Sonic said nothing. Instead he smiled, put his thumb in his mouth, and started sucking.

"Ga Ga." Sonic mumbled.

"W-what happened to him." Tails asked.

"**YOU'RE FRIEND WAS MET WITH ENORMOUS AMOUNTS OF OUR PURPLE HAZE. WHEN THE HAZE MAKES CONTACT WITH A MORTAL IT MALFUNCTIONS THEIR BRAIN CELLS UNTILL THEY HAVE A MIND OF AN INFANT!!!"**

"You mean Sonic thinks he's a baby?"

"**CORRECT!!!" **

"No! Sonic snap out of it! I can't fight them alone!" Tails said nudging the hedgehog's body. Sonic did nothing but roll slightly on the ground and chuckle.

"**YOU HAVE NO CHOICE!!! NOW FACE US OR DIE!!!"** The snakes lunged at Tails and the baby brained Sonic immediately after the statement was said.

"Why couldn't it have been me?" Tails asked himself.

_There you are. I hope you don't mind that it is a little shorter than the last one. My computer is still on the fritz. Will try to update soon. Review please._


	15. Chapter 15

_Here is the next chapter. Told you I would update as soon as I could. Maybe those weren't my exact words but you know what I mean._

**Chapter 14: Venture through the Time Intervals**

The two snakes made contact with more of the stone ground as Tails continued to jump out of their way.

"**YOU MUST FIGHT US FOX!"** They both yelled angrily as they charged at him again. Tails turned to Sonic, who was sitting on the ground clapping his hands together and blowing bubbles with his mouth.

"Please wake up Sonic!" He yelled. The snakes then collided into him with full force. Tails was knocked back a considerably long distance to the point where he almost fell off the edge. The fox saw them coming again and quickly jumped over one of their heads and ducked past the other. Once he was behind them he jumped again before they both turned around.

"**WHERE'D HE GO?"** asked one of the snakes before Tails slammed his foot on it's head. The snake fell forward a bit but the attack didn't seem to do much. Tails back flipped then landed on his feet gracefully.

"Whoa, I didn't know I could do that." Tails said happily. The second snake immediately shot numerous and fast puffs of gas at the fox. Tails quickly jumped again and allowed the gas to strike the surface. Once he was in the air he front flipped and landed on the snake's head.

"**GET OFF OF ME!"** he shouted. Tails did what he was told but instead of just getting off he jumped and slammed the other snake with his feet then jumped back to attack the other. However, the other one quickly used his mouth to catch him.

"**YOUR ATTACKS ARE USELESS AGAINST US!"** The snake from behind said. The snake that was holding Tails began to bite down hard at his leg. This made the fox shout on pain. The snake then let him drop to the floor.

"What just happened?" asked the confused fox.

"**I HAVE JUST INJECTED YOU WITH THE SAME GAS THE HEDGEHOG HAS RECEIVED! SOON YOU WILL BE JOINING HIM!"** Answered the snake.

Tails didn't move. It seems his legs wouldn't let him get up. It was like he was forgetting how to stand. The fox sat there and suddenly began to drool. He was losing control of his 4-year-old brain status, just like Sonic lost his 11-year-old brain status. Tails wasn't injected with as much gas as Sonic was so it was taking a little while longer.

"I've got to do something quick. Before I'm…Goo goo ga ga. What the…Why'd I say that? I've got to hurry before I…" Tails sat there trying to think of something while the snakes approached him.

"**NOW PREPARE TO DIE!!!"** the both launched themselves at Tails who was now babbling like a real baby. Before the snakes could finish attacking Tails started to glow.

"**WHAT ACT OF SORCERRY IS THIS?"** The snakes saw the fox glow a purple color. Soon Tails stood up on his feet and gave the snakes an intimidating glare.

"Prepare to die snake scum!" He shouted as he disappeared right in front of their eyes.

"**WHERE IS HE NOW!"** the snakes looked back and forth.

"Hey losers, behind you." Tails said. They both turned only for one of them to get slashed in half by the monstrous fox and his razor sharp claws. The other snake turned and saw the now black fur colored fox with a purple aurora around him.

"**HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?"** the snake wondered as he stared at the amazing sight. The fox transformed so quickly and it was so unexpected. This immense power he was seeing that arose out of the fox was of great magnitude. It was a little scary. Either way he wasn't allowing this fox to get away with defeating his brother. **"VERY INTERSETING. IT SEEMS YOU HAVE TRANSFORMED INTO ANOTHER BEING OF GREAT SUPERNATURAL POWER! BUT YOU SEE, MINE IS GREATER!"** the snake lunged at the fox and shot many gas balls at him. They all hit directly but had no effect.

"Is that the best you've got? Up until now that's all that I've seen you do." The kitsune said while smirking evilly.

"**WATCH THIS!"** the snake opened his mouth and shot out energy rays at the kitsune all at once. The kitsune's incredible speed was no match for him though. He teleported past each one with ease. He then reappeared one the snake's head.

"Watch what?" Tails said mockingly. The fox then jumped and let two beams of purple light appear in his hands. The kitsune then shot his body downward and slammed his hands literally into the snake's head! Before long the snake began to turn purple.

"**WHAT…WHAT IS HAPPENING?"** the snake lit up with purple light even more until finally his body burst open and exploded. Tails landed in the snake mess that lay before him and smirked.

"I guess its over." He then turned to Sonic who was sucking his thumb and drooling at the same time. The sight made Tails growl. "Pathetic fool." He muttered. That's when the glow disappeared and his fur turned back to its original yellow-orange color.

"Huh? W-what happened." Tails was confused. He looked below him and saw the pile of snake mess that his kitsune self created. That's when something unexpected happened. The snake parts turned back into stone and reformed at the end of the stone platform area. The stone statues were back to normal. Suddenly rumbling began to happen. Out from the other end of the platform sprouted the rest of the walkway.

"**YOU HAVE DEFEATED US! NOW YOU MAY PASS!"** the statues said. A small green ball of light appeared in Tails' hands then disappeared**. "THE GREEN BALL INDICTS THAT THE TIME INTERVAL HAS BEEN DECREASED FROM TWO MONTHS TO TWO DAYS. IT WASN'T SET TO TWO WEEKS BECAUSE OF THE CONSIDERIBLY SHORT AMOUNT OF TIME IT TOOK TO DEFEAT US. YOU MAY NOW CONTINUE YOUR QUEST TO ANGEL ISLAND!" **the statues spoke for the last time.

Tails sighed in relief then turned to the still babyish hedgehog. He ran over to Sonic and tried snapping his fingers but he didn't know how. Tails continued to try until he made one successful snap. The blue hedgehog immediately regained all his lost brain cells. The snap wouldn't of worked if the statues were still fighting but since Tails won their powers were decreased to the point that a single snap of the fingers could break the spell bound.

Sonic shook his head in order to get his senses back then looked around.

"Whoa, that was weird. What happened?" Sonic asked.

"The snake's gas made you act like a baby." Tails explained.

"Really? I thought that was just a weird dream. Oh well. What happened to the snakes?"

"I don't know. They hit me with their gas and I was going to act like a baby too but the next thing I know they were laying on the ground in a pile of their own mess. Do you think…that I…forget it." Tails said with a sad expression on his face.

_'He's starting to figure out that he is the one doing those attacks. I need to keep him in the dark just a little bit longer though.' _Sonic thought then decided to speak. "No I'm sure something else happened like they got to overpowered with their magic and exploded or something." Sonic explained.

"I guess so…but…I'm still not sure…" Tails then turned his attention to the walkway. "I almost forgot. We need to get to Angel Island. Our time was lowered to two days instead of two weeks." Tails explained.

"Great! The faster we get there the better." Sonic grabbed Tails' arm and sped down the walkway toward the next boss, blissfully unaware of the ship above them.

"Wow their making a path for me. How nice. Now I don't have to do jack…eww that sounded wrong. Do jack? Ugh. Who'd want to Do Jack? I could kick Jack's ass. I could kick Santa's ass too…" Igneous continued talking to himself idiotically while also continuing the pursuit on Sonic and Tails.

_At the Leaf Forest G.U.N base_

"This is Sergeant A-002. We have spotted you on monitor. Do you have G.U.N clearance?"

"This is A-500 SmokeStack, I request administration into the docking area stat."

"A-500 Smokestack. Understood. Over and out." A-002 cut off communication to SmokeStack who was headed directly for the G.U.N base coming up ahead. Immediately after the conversation was finished the base opened its docking bay doors. The ship Smoke was riding in landed inside the docking area where many other ships were being held as well. Just then soldiers from inside the base came running out to greet Smoke and his men. However, they had no idea that his men had been killed.

"A-500 SmokeStack, its good to have you back sir." One of them stated as the glass hatch door opened up and Smoke jumped out. "Where are the others?" The soldier asked.

"None of them made it back." He stated. The soldiers all gasped.

"N-none of them." He said surprised.

"We did." Rouge poked her head from out of the ship, as did Big and Froggy. The soldiers immediately recognized who she was and pointed their guns at her.

"Boy you G.U.N geeks really know how to greet a woman don't you?" Rouge smirked.

"You seem rather calm for someone on the FBI's most wanted list." A solider snared.

"I guess you guys just aren't intimidating enough. Say can I have some coffee?" Rouge asked. The soldiers just growled at her.

"Stand down men." Smoke ordered.

"But sir…"

"I said stand down!" Smoke repeated. The soldiers lowered their guns and walked away sulking.

"Wow. That was scary." Big said as he jumped out of the cockpit. "Maybe if I had one of those guns I could…naw I've already got a fishing rod." Big gestured.

"Ribbit." Froggy answered.

"Listen cat, if you had one of those guns you'd be placed under house arrest." Smoke explained.

"Just other reason why many people hate G.U.N" Rouge said in Big's defense.

"I know…personally I hate G.U.N too." Smoke said. This got Rouge and Big's attention.

"Then why are you in the G.U.N army?" Big asked.

"Because, here I have a license to kill and I need that fox dead. Since I couldn't kill him without being arrested I joined G.U.N. And since he and that hedgehog are wanted men…or wanted kids, then it should be no problem to kill him as well as Dr. Eggman." Smoke explained.

"Why do you want to kill Tails anyway?" Rouge asked.

"Because that kitsune did something long ago that I have to get revenge for. It wasn't done to me directly but I was able to feel the blow several thousand years later." Smoke said. Rouge and Big were confused big time.

"…And what about Dr. Eggman. Why do you want to kill him?"

"… No reason. I have nothing personal against him… I just simply want to kill him." Smoke lied.

"I'm guessing you have a real wild social life don't you?" Rouge said sarcastically. Smoke didn't answer. Instead he advanced toward the base. "There goes Mr. Sunshine." Rouge smirked and flew after him, with Big and Froggy close behind.

_On the Halo Path _

"I think I see the next boss area." Sonic said as he approached a huge golden gate. Tails had a very bad feeling about going in there. They needed to go by there in order to get to Angel Island however. They had no choice. "You up for this little buddy?" Sonic asked his shacking friend.

"…Ummm…okay S-Sonic." Tails said.

"Awe don't be scared kid. I'm with you all the way." Sonic reassured. Suddenly a loud voice was heard beyond the gate.

"Who dares come by here?" asked the voice from behind it. Sonic and Tails looked through the bars of the gate and found nothing. There was literally nothing beyond it. No pathway, no clouds, not anything.

"Sonic the Hedgehog and Tails the Fox dare." Sonic said

"I am the third boss needed to defeat in order to advance to Angel Island…"

"Wait. The third?" Sonic asked.

"That is correct." Said the unknown voice.

"So then where's the second?" Sonic asked.

_Meanwhile with Igneous_

"Who the hell are you? Can't you see I'm talking to myself?" Igneous stared at the figure standing on his ship. He had bronze yellow eyes, silver hair, a white outfit on, and he had a feather sticking on his head.

"I am the second boss needed to defeat in order to advance to Angel Island." Said the figure. "My name is Silver Eagle." He stated.

"I'm Igneous Rock and you're the bitch that's standing on my ship! Get off my ship you bitch!" Igneous shook the ship back and forth until the figure jumped off and did a back flip in the air. The feather on his head then multiplied into many, many feathers. They then circled around Silver Eagle's body and created a huge gust of wind.

"Prepare yourself Igneous…" the gust of wind died down and Igneous stared at the figure before him. It was a huge Silver Eagle!

"You transformed into an Eagle? Why the hell would you do something like that?" Igneous asked. Suddenly the Eagle spread it's wings and jetted straight toward Igneous' ship.

"…For this is the final day you shall live on this planet." Silver eagle finished his sentence.

_Back at the gate _

"My sensors are saying that the second boss is preoccupied right now. Now will you enter or not?" asked the unknown figure. Sonic and Tails stared at the gate for a long while. Sonic then turned to his fox friend.

"You know, you do have to come if you don't want to. I know you're scared." Sonic said. Tails stared at the ground sadly.

"…I think…I think I want to go with you anyway." Tails answered.

"So your not scared?"

"I'm scared but I want to help too. If I didn't help I would just be a bother to you. I'll go in with you and fend off anything that comes in our way. That's why we're partners, right Sonic?

"…Uh…right!" Sonic was surprised by the fox's sudden admiration. With that statement said they both turned back to the gate.

"Well? Are you going or staying?" asked the unknown voice again.

"We're going!" they both stated.

"Very well." The gate all of a sudden opened up and reveled something that wasn't there before. It was a purple wormhole. Sonic didn't hesitate to jump into it. Tails stood for a second then remembered what he said to Sonic. The fox moved forward, stopped, moved backward, stood for a while, then moved forward, and jumped in as well. A huge purple flash of light was seen at the end of the long violet colored tunnel. Tails was pulled toward it by a strong force. There was no turning back now.

_A few minutes later_

"Hey Tails…buddy…you awake?" Sonic looked down at his fox friend who had come through the wormhole unconscious. Tails flickered open his eyes and stared at his blue friend. He then sat up and looked around.

"What is this place?" Tails looked around the huge area. The background and the sky looked like a mixture of purple and red colors. Tails looked at the ground and saw many metal platforms floating on water that looked like a mixture of blue and purple colors. The fox himself was laying on one of the platforms as well. In the center seemed to be a huge generator that reached high up to the warm colored sky.

"I think we're in another dimension." Sonic looked behind Tails. The wormhole had disappeared. "Okay whoever is here come on out with your hands and a chilidog up." Sonic commanded.

"Why a chilidog?" Tails asked

"Because I'm hungry." Sonic responded.

"Here I am hedgehog." The same voice appeared in front of them and formed into a figure wearing a green outfit and he had a staff in his hands. "My name is Staff Digit. I am the third boss needed to beat in order to reach Angel Island."

"When then, It'll be a pleasure to beat you." Sonic jumped off the platforms and raced toward him. Suddenly the generator in the center of the area churned. Soon many more Staff Digit's appeared. "What the hell?" Sonic said before the original Staff Digit attacked him with his staff. Sonic fell to the ground and quickly got up to avoid another attack that was headed straight for him. As soon as he did he was hit hard against the back of his head with a different staff. Sonic flew into the air, back flipped and landed on another platform and barely missed the water.

"Ugh. I hate water." Suddenly more Digits began to jump the hedgehog. Sonic quickly jumped out of the way only to run into more Digits. Sonic decided to go on the offensive. He jumped and did a huge Homing attack at one of the Digits. The Digit copy disappeared as soon as it was hit. More of them swung their staffs at the hedgehog however. Sonic jumped out of the way of their attacks and did a homing attack on 5 more of them before the platform was empty. He then jumped to the next one and took out the ones that were on that one.

Tails backed up to the edge of the platform as 10 Digits came closer toward him. Tails' foot suddenly touched the water. He looked down at it in panic then back at the Digits.

'_You can do it Tails. Sonic is depending on you to.' _Tails jumped, twirled his tails, and then launched himself at the copies. He slammed his foot into one of them, which immediately caused him to disappear. Before they could attack Tails, the fox back flipped, grabbed onto the copy's shoulders and slammed both his feet against his back. The copy flew forward and slammed into another copy, which made them both disappear.

"Cool." Tails said as he landed. Another copy then slammed his staff down toward Tails. The fox saw it coming however and ducked between his legs. Another copy then swung at Tails as well. Tails flew high above him causing the copy to strike the other copy Tails ducked through. Tails then stopped spinning and let himself drop on the copy's head. They both disappeared as well.

"This is easy." Tails boasted before he was struck hard across the head with a staff. The fox fell on the platform and rolled a bit till he was at the edge. The dazed fox stood up and ducked out of the way of another attack. The copy wobbled and struggled to regain his balance as he stood at the edge of the platform that overlooked the water. Tails ran into him and knocked him over into the water. 3 more copies immediately rushed toward the fox but he was too quick for them. Tails ducked through all their legs and let them all fall into the water and on top of the copy that was already in there and disappear.

"I think that was nine of them." Tails said then remembered ten were after him. He turned and saw the tenth one with his staff extended. Tails got into a crooked fighting stance, that wasn't even considered one to the copy, and they both launched at each other.

Sonic had taken out over 59 copies before he started to get tired. The hedgehog hopped many platforms only to run into what he was trying to avoid. Sonic jumped and kicked at another copy then head butted another, and then punched another. He didn't seem to be getting anywhere even though the copies disappeared as they were hit. The blue blur turned to the generator and saw many more copies come out at once and land near his position.

"Oh I get it. That machine is the one creating the copies." Sonic jumped a few more platforms before he stood in front of the monster-sized machine. Sonic made a whistling sound when he saw it. "That's huge!" Sonic turned then saw the copies heading his way. "Better do this fast." Sonic jumped and got into his ball form. He then launched himself at the generator. As soon as he connected with the generator he was electrocuted severely. The hedgehog was taken out of his ball form and shot back at the copies. He crashed into many of them and made them disappear on contact.

"What the hell? That wasn't supposed to happen." Sonic said.

"Actually it was." Said Staff Digit who was on a far off platform. "The generator has an electrical discharge that causes anyone who goes near it to be shocked." He explained.

"Guess I'm going to need the ring for this." Sonic slipped the small ring out of his glove and held it high. Staff Digit immediately teleported himself behind Sonic. At this same time Tails was hopping on a few platforms with the copy he was fighting following behind. He then stopped when he saw Staff Digit behind Sonic. The fox's instinct then took over.

"Sonic, look behind you!" Tails yelled. It was already to late, however. Staff Digit slammed the hedgehog's hand and caused the ring to fall out of it and fall into the water.

"Oh no!" Sonic shouted.

"Don't worry Sonic! I've got it!" Tails jumped into the water and used his tails to swim himself over to the area where the ring was beginning to sink. The fox quickly grabbed it before it could sink any further. "I've got it!" Tails yelled then all of a sudden, WHAM! Tails was slammed in the back of the head with the tenth copy's staff, which he tossed at him when Tails wasn't looking. Tails floated there, wide eyed for a second before he fell underneath and sank toward the bottom.

"TAILS!" Sonic shouted. He was truly surprised at what he just witnessed. Sonic then stopped thinking clearly. He had to save his little bro no matter what. Sonic held his breath and dived in after the fox, knowing he himself couldn't swim.

"Well now, it seems we've reached a dilemma." Staff Digit sneered as he watched the hopeless scene.

_Back above Halo path_

Igneous shot multiple bullets at the eagle but just couldn't hit the annoying bird. He flew up and down, back and forth, this way and that but the results were the same.

"Give it up. You have no chance at defeating me." Silver Eagle said.

"To hell with you already! Damnit! Why won't you hold still so I can shoot you?" Igneous asked in frustration.

"Take this!" The eagle launched himself at Igneous' ship and collided hard with it. The ship swerved a bit but regained composure.

"You better not have scratched this…it's a rental!" Igneous shouted as he fired more bullets at the bird. The eagle ducked though them all as easily as it did before then opened its mouth. Soon a huge orange beam appeared in its mouth and he shot a huge energy blast at Igneous. "Oh so you want to compare rays huh?" Igneous pressed a green button on his consul and a huge cannon appeared on top of his ship. It shot a green blast out at the orange blast the eagle shot. They both collided and erupted into a huge explosion.

"Interesting." The Silver Eagle said.

"YES! HA, HA! SMOKED THAT BITCH!" Igneous yelled in triumph.

"You have not one yet." Silver Eagle spread his wings and before long the gust of feathers showed up and formed smaller eagles made of feathers. "Now, attack!" Silver Eagle shouted. Igneous flew toward them and shot a blast at each one that neared his ship. When he hit the last one he stopped to gloat again.

"WHOO HOO! SMOKED THOSE BITCHES!" Igneous shouted again.

"This is no game! Your life is at stake here Igneous!"

"Don't call me Igneous. I will be now known as 'He who smokes bitches!' "

"Ugh." Silver Eagle had just about enough of Igneous' taunting. He spread his wings again then let an orange light appear around him. Igneous watched the sight until he saw the Eagle disappear.

"Huh? Where'd he go?" Igneous asked before something slammed into his ship. He turned and saw the eagle's beak stuck in his ship. The eagle shook his beak out of the ship's side and continued to fly. "Oh now your gonna get such an ass whopping!" Igneous opened the hatch door, put the ship on auto pilot, then jumped on the roof. The bird had disappeared again but this time it wouldn't be a problem. Igneous used his ultraviolet eyes to look across the sky. These eyes could see anything, even if they were invisible. He then saw the eagle flying straight for his ship again.

"There you are!" Igneous yelled as he jumped off the ship and landed on the eagle's back. He immediately became visible again.

"How in the world did you…?"

"Ultraviolet sensor eyes baby! Suck on this!" Igneous then clutched the eagle's neck and squeezed hard. One of his arms then started to glow emerald green.

"I _'ack'_ sense an enormous _'ack'_ amount of _'ack'_ chaos energy in _'ack'_ your arm…" the eagle couldn't breathe anymore. Igneous squeezed so hard he eventually snapped the eagle's neck. Before it fell toward the ground Igneous jumped back to his ship and regained control over it again.

"Oh that chaos energy you felt was probably the green chaos emerald in my arm. Oh well like you give a damn. Your dead. I killed you, bitch!" Igneous shut the hatch door and flew in the direction Sonic and Tails were headed.

"SMOKED THAT BITCH!!!" Igneous laughed as he flew off.

_Back in the unknown dimension_

'_I can't believe I let Sonic down so easily. How'd I get attacked? How'd I let my guard down for one second and it all comes crumbling apart for both of us. I guess I'm not cut out to be a hero after all. I should've stayed on Westside Island. I was probably going to die there anyway. But now not only am I gonna die but Sonic might too! I feel so bad. It probably was for the best that I died. I know I'm the one who killed all those people. Darkness told me in my dream. I know it's true. I sure hope Sonic wins…huh?'_ Tails had been sinking and thinking all this in his head. He then caught the sight of a figure swimming down toward him _'Who is that…is it…could it be…?'_

"Well I guess I showed them whose boss. No one makes it to my domain and lives. Not anyone." Staff Digit was proud of himself. He hasn't had a fight in a long time. He thought he heard ships flying over the gate but dismissed it as one of those jets or planes the Mobians ride around in. After all no one but those foolish animals would think to have come here. "I guess they got what was coming to them. They did make things interesting for a while…WHAT'S THIS!?"

The water in the area where Sonic and Tails were sinking began to bubble. Soon the bubbling increased until a huge blue ball flew out of the water and landed on the platform Tails was just on. The ball unfolded into the two known as Sonic and Tails.

"It was a good thing Tails had the ring, or we may not have survived that." Sonic said.

The tenth copy immediately ran toward Sonic. The hedgehog gave him a quick punch, which made him disappear. All the copies gathered round the real Staff Digit who was standing there in shock.

'_How'd he…?'_ Digit tried to think.

"Come on buddy, don't die on me." Sonic was pushing down on Tails' stomach hard. The fox took in a lot of water while he was down there. Tails still didn't move. Sonic started to panic as he continued to push down at Tails' stomach. He didn't know many medical techniques for drowning so he had to make do with what he was doing. "Wake up Tails." Sonic whispered. Soon Tails coughed, turned side ways and vomited up a lot of water. He then lied back down on the platform and stared up at Sonic with a half conscious expression. "Are you alright?" Sonic asked.

"…Yeah…I'm alright…I got your ring…" Tails choked out before he passed out. Sonic smiled then clutched the ring in his hand. He turned to face all the copies and the original and gave them a huge glare.

"Take this you creeps!" Sonic shouted. The ring in Sonic's hand glowed bright as he got into his ball form. He then blasted himself at Staff Digit and all his copies. The original Digit ducked as the ball came toward him but the others in Sonic's path were destroyed. Sonic then collided with the generator at full speed. There were two factors that gave Sonic the advantage against this thing this time. One was that nothing was unexpected this time around, and two was that the ring gave him an extra boost of power. This turned out to be enough. Sonic broke through the electric field and slammed into the generator. He continued to circle and destroy it until it eventually exploded.

"NO! My copies!" Staff Digit shouted as his copies all disappeared. Then the blue electricity covered ball jetted out from the generator's smoke and collided with Staff Digit's stomach. Not only did it impale him but it also electrocuted him since Sonic was able to gather electricity while he was attacking the generator. The blast sent Digit flying across the area. Digit then disappeared as well.

"Boy do we rock. Right Tails." Sonic turned to the unconscious fox then smiled. "Oh yeah, I forgot. You just rest up okay buddy." Sonic said. Suddenly the purple sky, the metal platforms, and the water all disappeared. Sonic and Tails were teleported out of dimension and were put back on Halo path. Sonic looked around and saw that the golden gate was behind them instead of in front of them this time. That meant they passed through.

"Man, what a hassle." Sonic sighed then saw two green balls of light come into his hands and disappear.

"You have defeated me. These green balls indicate that the time interval has decreased from two days to two minutes." A voice from nowhere said.

"Why two minutes?" Sonic asked.

"Because both me and Silver eagle were defeated. I suggest you take your leave." Said the voice for the last time. Sonic hoisted Tails on his back then blasted out of the area, not really caring how Silver Eagle was defeated.

"Two minutes should be a piece of cake." Sonic said continuing to run. Overhead Igneous flew over the gate and followed the hedgehog in pursuit.

"There he is. Time for me to collect my prize." Igneous said as he continued to follow him.

_On Angel Island_

Knuckles sat on the alter with a determined and very angered look on his face. He remembered what Eggman told him. He said to watch out for a blue hedgehog and a two-tailed fox.

"I bet these guys are real punks. Wait until I get my hands on them. I'll punch them both then kick them and…"

_On the Halo Path_

"I think I see the exit of this path." Sonic said to himself.

"…S-Sonic." Tails groaned as he awakened.

"Hey Tails, you awoke at the right time."

"Really?" The fox said with a tired expression.

"Yup! We're about to reach Angel Island!" Sonic said as he raced toward the non-continuing path.

"Ah! The path is gone!" Tails shouted.

"I know. That means we're there! Brace yourself!" Sonic shouted as they ran off the edge of the stone pathway and flew into the air.

_On Angel Island_

"…Then I'll make them eat their own organs and I'll…what's that?" Knuckles looked above him and saw something heading straight for him. Actually it wasn't one thing it was two.

"Hey Sonic! I think someone's below us!" Tails shouted as they neared the red figure.

"Who the hell?" Knuckles said.

"Hey! Who ever you are, look out below!" Sonic yelled.

"AHHHHH!!!" Knuckles shouted as both Sonic and Tails landed directly on top of the confused red echidna.

_Great chapter! I thought it was, anyway. As always I will try to update as soon as I can but since I'll be in New York over Thanksgiving the next chapter probably won't come until after it. Review please._


	16. Chapter 16

_Sorry I've been out of it for a while. I was in New York City for Thanksgiving from Wednesday to Sunday. I am back and ready to continue however. Read and Review_

**Chapter 15: Ally or Enemy? Meet Knuckles the Echidna**

"Get off of me NOW!" Shouted the angry and frustrated red echidna.

"Sorry sir." Said a frightened Tails who immediately stepped off of the echidna's back.

"You too squirrel!" Knuckles shouted to Sonic.

"I'm a hedgehog!" Sonic shouted back.

"Whatever." Knuckles said obviously not caring for the hedgehog's right for identity. Sonic got off of Knuckles' back as well. The echidna stood up and brushed himself off while trying to piece together what happened.

"Hi there!" Sonic said sticking out his hand. Knuckles looked up and saw the hand but didn't know what to do with it.

"What are you doing?" asked the echidna.

"I'm offering a hand shake." Sonic explained.

"Hand…shake?"

"You don't get out much do you? Yes a hand shake."

"What's it for?"

"… It's a way to greet someone."

"When I greet someone I just say high… however I don't get much visitors around here… and the only friend I have or had was some sort of fruit with a face drawn on him but I killed him when we were playing uno…"

"OOOOOOOOkaaaaaaaaaaaay… are you sure your not one of those crazy physicos I've heard so much about."

"No! I'm just lonely…I MEAN NOT LONELY I'M JUST ALONE!" Knuckles changed his wording thinking that lonely sounded like he was begging for some sort of friendship or partnership of any kind.

"So you don't have any friends?" Tails asked budding in.

"… What do you guys want?" Knuckles didn't answer Tails' question on purpose. He didn't want to sound desperate by saying yes.

"We're here to find lost soldiers and something called a Master Emerald. Have you heard of it?" Tails answered.

"Have I heard of…Of course I have! I'm the emerald's guardian!" Knuckles said while wondering who these people were and why they were interested in his emerald. "Wait a minute! A blue hedgehog and a two tailed fox!" Knuckles knew who they were now.

'_So that Eggman was telling the truth, well they're not getting my emerald!'_

Knuckles jumped back and landed on the alter then gave Sonic and Tails an icy stare.

Sonic noticed the echidna's sudden facial expression change and wondered what was up.

"Hey buddy, you okay?" Sonic asked.

"I am NOT you're buddy you damn thief!" Knuckles blurted out.

"What?" Sonic was confused.

"I know you're here to steal my emerald!"

"…You're…wait a minute! Me and Tails came here to get that emerald by order of King Watt!" Sonic shouted.

"So you're just another one of King Watt's lackeys huh? Heh, heh, this will be easy then." Knuckles immediately got into his fighting stance.

"You know about King Watt? So you were the one who defeated all of his soldiers. What did you do with them!?" Sonic was angry as well.

"Ha, ha, ha, ha! Yeah I beat them. It was easy too. I punch one of them once and they are on the floor bawling like babies. I can understand that happening to any regular person but anyone who makes it over the halo path are usually mighty warriors. These guys were wimps though. One punch and they were all down. As for what I did with them…well that's really none of your business." Knuckles explained. He could've told Sonic where they were and ended this quickly but what fun would that be? It's been a while since the echidna had any real action going on in his life.

"Actually it is my business. Now I'm going to ask you again. What did you do with them?"

"Bite me!" Knuckles shouted back.

"Stop! Why do you two have to fight? Can't we just talk about it?" Tails didn't want to start anything, especially after what they've been through on the halo path.

"I hate talking! It's boring! I want ACTION!" Knuckles then charged at Sonic and landed and huge punch at where he was standing. Sonic quickly jumped out of the way obviously seeing the attack coming. The hedgehog landed on his feet and saw the echidna charging again.

"UH OH! The red baron is on the lose!" Sonic shouted as huge white-gloved fists with sharp spikes on them lashed out at Sonic. Sonic dodged them one by one but it wasn't as easy as the hedgehog thought it would be.

"Hold still so I can hit you!" Knuckles demanded.

"I don't see that happening." Sonic merely said as he dodged another punch. That's when Knuckles punched Sonic in a different part of his body. Instead of his face he landed one in his stomach. The punch made him wheeze out a lot of air and it sent him flying into a tree.

"See, one punch and they're done." Knuckles said blowing on his fist. He then turned to Tails who was shacking wildly. "Heh, this will be easy." He raised a fist and headed toward the scared fox.

"Ugh…man he sure can throw a punch." Sonic looked up and saw the red echidna charging at Tails. "Oh no! Tails! Hang on buddy!" Sonic picked up the passé of his super quick feet and charged at their direction. Knuckles then lashed out a huge punch at Tails. However, the spiky blue blur got in the way of the attack and caught the punch. It immediately sent him flying but he wasn't alone. Knuckles was flying with him!

The clever hedgehog decided to not only take the punch but also use it against Knuckles. When knuckles punched Sonic in the stomach Sonic grabbed onto Knuckles' fist, which sent him flying with Sonic as well. While in the air Sonic twirled Knuckles' body over and threw him hard at the ground. He connected with it hard while Sonic landed beautifully.

"How's that for style." Sonic said smugly. The hedgehog turned around and saw that the echidna wasn't there anymore. "What the?" Sonic looked all around the forest area they were in and there was no sign of him.

"That was pretty good hedgehog but you're in my turf now! Let's just see how quick you're reflexes are!" Knuckles shouted from nowhere.

"My reflexes are always qui-"

"Think fast!" Shouted the echidna. Suddenly a large tree fell toward Sonic out of nowhere.

"AH!" Sonic quickly rushed out of the way and let the tree collide with the ground.

"What the hell was that?" Sonic asked then he looked up to see 3 trees and a boulder falling down on him. The hedgehog rushed past all of them only to get hit with a different tree coming from a different direction. Sonic fell to the ground, rolled a bit, and stopped. Then he was immediately struck at the back of the head with a rock.

"I thought you were fast from what I saw before but if you can't keep up I guess the game will be over quicker then expected." Knuckles gloated in his still unknown spot.

"Err. Where are you coward." Sonic whispered to himself. He knew speed wouldn't be enough top beat this guy. This echidna seemed to have an enormous amount of strength. Sonic needed to make a strategy and quick.

"Now it's time for the fast level!" Shouted knuckles. Suddenly many trees and boulders began raining out of the sky. Sonic panicked and began dodging the numerous items. Everytime he dodged a rock, a tree came in his way and every time he dodged a tree, a rock came in his way. When everything was avoided Sonic noticed something weird about his surroundings. There was a lot more room for him to run now. That's when Sonic saw the huge flaw in the echidna's plan.

"Okay red echidna or whoever you are, keep it coming! Time for me to show you what speed can really do!"

_Back at the alter_

Tails wondered why people always ended up fighting each other. It was like the world was one big wrestling wring. No one can come on a full agreement with anything so the best thing to do was fight. It didn't seem fair to him. Tails turned his attention to the alter. There he saw the most precious emerald he had ever laid his eyes on.

"That must be the Master Emerald King Watt told me and Sonic about. It's so pretty." Tails said clearly amazed. All of a sudden the fox started walking toward it. It was as if he was drawn toward it. The beautiful green light from the gem that sparkled in the Sun made the emerald shine out radiant blasts into Tails' cerulean blue eyes. Before the fox knew it he was standing right in front of the emerald. Tails put one gloved hand on it and began drooling at the way it felt and looked. Before Tails could examine it more something hard whacked him across the head. He was out like a light.

"Well that was easy. I don't see what the big deal about this kid is. He looks like a regular freaky twerp to me. Oh well, if Eggman wants him he's gonna get him. This emerald looks nice too. I think I'll take it as well." Igneous picked up the unconscious fox by his tails and the large gem and began heading back to his ship.

"I wonder if I'll get a promotion…I wonder if I can get a bedroom full of hookers! THAT WOULD BE SWEEEEEEET! I've always wanted to be a pimp." Igneous said while walking across the field. Suddenly his foot stepped into a hollow area in the field. Being humungous and very heavy his foot broke through the ground and Igneous landed in an underground cellar.

"What the hell? How'd I get here?" the curious bulky yellow robot looked up and saw a small tunnel leading toward the outside above him. "Oh great, I have fallen and I can't get up. Activate jet boots!" Igneous shouted then bend down and pressed a small button on his boot.

"PREPARING TO LAUNCH…LOADING TAKE OFF…1 PERCENT COMPLETE…LOADING TAKE OFF…" the speaker of the boot said.

"Oh great! I hate loading. It's such a pain in the ass when it takes forever! Well I guess I should explore while I'm waiting." Igneous sulked. With that he ventured down the long pathway.

_Back in the forest_

Sonic's plan was working. More and more trees and boulders were dodged and the space was getting wider and wider.

"Give it up hedgehog! There is no way you're going to find me! No way!" Knuckles shouted. All of a sudden he felt a tap on his shoulder. The echidna turned around and was greeted with a huge kick in the face. Knuckles skidded across the ground and rammed into a tree. "What the…how did…when did…?" Knuckles was at a loss for words.

"While you were busy tossing trees and rocks around I was planning. I saw that the area where you could hide behind was going away with each thing that you tossed. It was only a matter of time before I spotted you!" Sonic explained.

"Well, that's what I get for trying to act clever. I like close combat better anyway!" Knuckles got up and punched Sonic square in the gut. The hedgehog forced his feet to stay where they were however. Sonic then kicked Knuckles across the face again. While he did this Knuckles was attacking Sonic's chest. They were both punching and kicking at a high-speed rate. Eventually the both landed a hit at each other's cheek. This was enough to send them both flying high in the air.

They both landed in an open field. Sonic was the first to get up and as soon as he did he charged at the still alert echidna. Knuckles hopped on his feet and started to fight again.

"You're…not…like the other…wimps that came by!" Knuckles said through struggling punches. "Who are you anyway?" asked the echidna really wanting to know.

"I'm…Sonic…Sonic the Hedgehog…and…you?" Sonic said through equally struggling punches.

"I'm…Knuckles…the Echidna…guardian of the Master Emerald…and a descendant of the echidna tribe!" Knuckles' punches started to get weaker.

"Impossible! All…the echidna tribe people…were killed 4000 years ago…" Sonic's punches started to get weaker as well.

"Not all of them…only those…pure of heart were spared…like Princess Tikal was…I've been the emerald's protector for years…and I won't let any thieves sent by King Watt…take it from me…"

"Thieves? We're not…thieves…and neither is King Watt…"

"…Oh I see…you…fell…for his…nice guy routine…King Watt and everyone at the Watt palace have been…haters…of the echidna…clan for thousands of years…they were evil jerks who have tried stealing the Master Emerald numerous times in order to take over this planet…that's why I can't let them get to it…" Knuckles explained. He was sweating wildly and he was losing the strength he put into his punches.

"…Seriously…is that true…?" Sonic was sweating as much as Knuckles.

"…It is true…they only sent you and the fox here to use you as guinea pigs…in order to steal my emerald…since their soldiers were all wimps…they chose to use you…" Knuckles explained.

"…Wow…I feel like a fool…so why are we still fighting?"

"Because I don't like to lose!"

"Me neither!" Sonic said. Their punches increased as sweat flew in all directions. Eventually they both hit each other across the face and fell backward at the same time. The laid there huffing and puffing for a while until Sonic spoke.

"Man…you're fast…for a tough guy…" Sonic admitted.

"Yeah…and you're…tough…for a fast guy…" Knuckles admitted too. They both sat up and looked back in the direction of the alter. "So you guys don't want my emerald?" Knuckles asked.

"Naw…I never did…I should really get back to Tails. I bet he's worried sick." Sonic got up and ran back towards the alter. Knuckles did the same. When they both made it back they were shocked at what the saw.

"WHAT HAPPENED TO THE MASTER EMERALD!?" Knuckles shouted.

"WHAT HAPPENED TO TAILS!?" Shouted Sonic.

"I knew I couldn't trust you! You're fox friend stole my emerald!" Knuckles yelled.

"No he didn't. He's only 4. He can't carry something that huge." Sonic said in Tails' defense.

"Well if he didn't do it, Then who did?" Knuckles asked still angered.

"Well the huge foot prints leading to the big hole might be a clue." Sonic said pointing to the huge wide spaced footprints.

"Those look like they came from an ape!"

"Whatever it was it probably got Tails too. Come on." Sonic said walking toward the hole.

"What?"

"Come on and help me find Tails and that thing that took him."

"Why should I?"

"Because you'll never see your precious emerald again if you don't."

"…Alright fine…let's go." Knuckles said walking toward the hole and jumping in. Sonic soon jumped in after.

_In the cellar area of the underground tunnel_

"Man. This place is a dump." Igneous had only been walking about 2 minutes before he came upon a huge cellar. He looked around and inside each cell was a soldier. They were all banging on the bars of the cell asking for help.

"Help! A mad echidna beat us up and shoved us in these cells!" shouted one man.

"Get us out of here!" Shouted another.

"Help!"

"Do something!"

"HELP!"

"Oh shut up you wimps! You should be lucky you're even alive. Some men you are. Complaining like a bunch of little girls. If I were the one who locked you up you would all be dead by now because of such behavior. However, I do like to see the weak squirm. You! Dance for me!" Igneous pulled out a blaster cannon in his arm and shot at the man in the cell through the bars. He immediately danced out of the way of the attacks.

"Hey! Dandelion Robot! Over here!" shouted a voice from behind. Igneous turned and saw the angry echidna staring at him with pure hate in his eyes. "Give me back my emerald!"

"…What…you mean this." Igneous held out the huge green emerald.

"Yeah, that's the one."

"Well you can't have it! I stole it fair and square!" Igneous argued. By this time Tails had awakened. He looked around the room and saw that he was in a cellar. He then noticed he was in the hands of a huge yellow robot. In front of him was that red echidna and Sonic.

"What happened?" Tails wondered. Suddenly he was brought forward as the yellow robot put down the emerald and charged at Knuckles. The echidna was still weak from his battle with Sonic but he still had some fight in him. Knuckles lashed out his hands and let Igneous' hands collide with his.

"Give it up echidna! You can't beat me!" Igneous said smugly.

"Give it to him Knuckles! While you do that I'll set these people free and lead them out of this robot's lair." Sonic said rushing to the cells. This got knuckles' attention.

"What! NO! Sonic you idiot! Don't-" Knuckles was punched hard across the face by Igneous while he was distracted.

"Ha Ha! You should really pay more attention to the events at hand." Igneous suggested.

"I don't know who this robot is, but I know he isn't nice!" Tails was sure of the fact that this robot was the one who had knocked him out. With that Tails lifted up one of his tails and slammed it on the glass case that held a green chaos emerald inside that was connected to Igneous' arm. The glass immediately cracked and green sparks flew everywhere.

"What! You idiot fox! Look what you did!" Igneous shouted as the sparks gave both him and Tails a shock. Knuckles took this as his opportunity to attack. He jumped, raised back his fist, and slammed a huge punch at Igneous' chest compartment. The robot dropped Tails and fell backward till he hit the ground. "I can't believe someone knocked me over! Ugh!"

"You alright fox?" Knuckles asked the dazed Tails.

"Are you my mommy?" Tails asked still completely not in tune with himself.

"Uhhhhhhh…no." Knuckles looked up and saw that all the locked up people were now set free.

"Well since that robot was defeated you are all free to go." Sonic said.

"SONIC! YOU IDIOT!" Knuckles shouted.

"Huh…?" Sonic was about to ask what Knuckles meant but he was met with an extremely hard blow across the head that caused him to pass out. Before Knuckles could react he was knocked unconscious too.

_20 minutes later_

"Sonic…wake up…King Watt is here…SONIC!" Tails yelled at the top of his lungs. The blue hedgehog quickly awakened but for some reason couldn't move. He looked down and saw that he was standing but his hands were tied behind his back and he was being held by two buff soldiers.

"T-Tails…is that you?" Sonic looked beside him and saw his fox friend in the same position he was.

"Uh huh." Tails answered.

"Well this is a fine kettle of fish you got us in Sonic!" Shouted Knuckles on the other side and as restrained as much as the other two.

"What do you mean?" Sonic asked.

"Those prisoners weren't put there by the robot, they were put there by me!" Knuckles explained. "That's what I did with the soldiers."

"Hey, it's not entirely my fault! If you had just told me where they were I wouldn't have released them!" Sonic argued.

"Hey! Shut up you two! I'm talking now!" Stated King Watt who was standing in front of them.

"Yeah, what is it Watt!" Knuckles wasn't in the mood for his taunting.

"I just wanted to thank you for finally giving me back my soldiers Knuckles. And Sonic thank you for being the perfect guinea pig I needed in order to steal the emerald." King Watt said smugly.

"It doesn't make sense. How were your weak soldiers able to make it by the halo path?" Sonic wanted to know. The King chuckled.

"That was easy! All I had to do was give them their own ships needed to fly over the path. It is really short when you're not actually fighting the bosses." King Watt explained.

"But why did you have to use me and Sonic?" Tails asked shyly.

"I didn't want to get me hands dirty. I could've wiped the floor with that echidna but I didn't really feel like it." The king said nonchalantly. This set Knuckles off.

"WHAT! You think you can take me! BRING IT ON KINGY!" Knuckles shouted.

"Kingy? That's the best you could do. Ugh, I wonder why they put such a dipstick in charge of such a wondrous masterpiece like the Master Emerald. Oh well, I guess I'll never know." The king then looked at Tails. _'Two tails huh? No doubt that is the legendary kitsune spoken of in the famous legend. I think I'll take him with me.'_ King Watt walked up to Tails and snapped his fingers. Immediately his guards that were holding Tails picked up the now terrified fox and took him to King Watt's ship.

"Tails!" Sonic started to struggle but couldn't get out of the grasp of the huge men. "Let him go!" Sonic yelled.

"Oh I'll let him go all right…straight to hell!" King Watt shouted as he approached his ship. "Now I must return to Watt palace to bask in more glory. Ta Ta." The king said getting in his ship.

"Watt palace huh? I bet there is some good stuff there!" Came a voice from nowhere. Everyone looked all over the place but found nothing. That's when Igneous burst out of the ground. It scared everyone senseless.

"WHERE THE HELL DID HE COME FROM!" Knuckles shouted. The guards that were holding Sonic and Knuckles were so taken back they let them both go. Sonic and Knuckles immediately took the chance to attack their own guards. They knocked them all out with ease.

"Who the devil are you?" Asked King Watt.

"I'm Igneous Rock! I'm also the one who is going to that castle you spoke of to steal all your collectables. Take that bitch!"

"Oh please. You don't even know where my castle is."

"It's that floating one I passed when I was following the hedgehog and the fox to the halo path. It should be easy to get there again." Igneous stated as he pulled out a pair of keys with a small button attached to the key chain. He pressed the button and they were all greeted with the sound of a car alarm. Suddenly Igneous' ship fell from the sky and landed hard on the ground. "See you at the palace bitch!" Igneous hopped into the cockpit of his ship and began to take off."

"Oh yeah! Well we'll just see who gets there first!" King Watt closed the hatch of his cockpit and took off as well.

"Oh no you don't!" Both Sonic and Knuckles yelled in unison as they grabbed on to Igneous' ship. Soon they were all headed toward Watt palace.

_Inside King Watt's ship_

"Listen! Everyone at the palace I want you too-" King Watt began speaking into his walkie-talkie before he heard Tails crying out for the guards to let him go. "Shut up fox! I'm trying to get a reading on my palace!" the King yelled.

Tails couldn't take this abuse anymore. He bit down hard on one of the guard's arms and he yelped out on pain. Tails then slammed his tail into the other one's face. They both let him go and Tails was free.

"Knuckles was right. You all are weak." Tails said proud of himself.

"Err! No way I'm getting beat by a four-year-old. Come here you pesky kitsune!" The King got out of his seat and lashed out at Tails. Tails dodged to the side easily but was attacked again. This happened a few times before Tails started to become cocky.

"Can't catch me!" The fox shouted as the king began to get annoyed.

"Oh yes I will. One way…" The King reached into his pocket and pulled out a laser and pointed it at Tails. The fox immediately stopped in his tracks. "…Or another." The king finished.

_On Igneous' ship_

"There is the castle! I see it! Boy, for a floating castle it doesn't look to special." Igneous looked down at it and saw many people through the windows running around in fear. "That's right! Fear the great Igneous rock!"

_On top of Igneous' ship_

"This isn't the ship that Tails is in." Sonic said as he struggled to maintain his balance.

"The one Tails and the Master Emerald is on is over there." Knuckles pointed to King Watts' ship.

"I think something is wrong with the ship." Sonic said.

"Me too. It looks like it's heading straight for us! Is their anyone piloting it?" asked the worried echidna.

"NO!" Sonic looked through the window and saw King watt standing up and pointing a laser at Tails.

_Back on King Watts' ship_

"Any last words fox!" King Watt asked. Tails was about to burst into tears and beg his forgiveness but he knew he would be the biggest wimp ever if he did. Sonic doesn't want a wimp for a partner. In his panic he turned his head to the window and saw that they were going to crash into Igneous' ship.

"Look out! We're gonna crash!" Tails shouted and pointed out the window.

"Nice try but the palace is in front of us not beside us." King Watt said before the ships collided.

"What the!" Igneous shouted as he looked to his left and saw King Watt's ship inside his cockpit.

"I didn't say we were going to crash into the castle." Tails smiled then made a run for the emerald. Before the king could stop him the ship started to lose power. King Watt immediately went back to his controls in order to do something but it didn't work. They were going to crash into Watt palace!"

Knuckles and Sonic jumped from Igneous' ship to King Watts' ship as soon as they connected. Knuckles didn't hesitate to punch a hole in the ship and poke his head down.

"Hey, mister red guy! I have you're emerald!" Tails shouted to Knuckles above.

"It's Knuckles. Hoist the emerald and yourself up quickly." Knuckles demanded. Tails did what he was told and soon they were all standing in the outside of the ship.

_In Igneous' ship_

"Screw this! I'm outta here!" Igneous pressed a green button on the consul that launched him out of the ship and into the sky almost immediately.

"LOADING…JET BOOTS ARE NOW AT 100 PERCENT!" Said the little speaker in Igneous' boot.

"Sweet!" Igneous was proud of himself for, supposedly, thinking ahead of time. The jet boots turned on and he left the crashing scene. "Have fun crashing into the castle you bastards!" He said as he flew off.

_On top of King Watts' ship_

"Quick! Knuckles, grab onto Tails' hand." Sonic ordered.

"What'll that do?" Asked the echidna.

"Just do it." Sonic ordered again. Knuckles pouted then did what he was told. After that Sonic grabbed onto Tails' other hand and helped Knuckles clutch the Master Emerald. Tails immediately rotated his tails and slowly, because of the weight he was carrying, took off. They looked down as they saw both King Watt's and Igneous' ship crash into Watt palace and explode.

"That's what those bastards get for trying to steal my…YOU CAN FLY!" Knuckles shouted as he looked up at Tails. Tails didn't answer. The weight he was carrying was so intense he couldn't focus.

"He's too weak to carry both of us and the Master Emerald back to Angel Island. What do we do?" Explained Sonic.

"YOU CAN FLY!"

"Knuckles!"

"Huh? Oh! You guys made it past the halo path already right?"

"Uh huh."

"Well once you make it past once you don't have to do everything you did again. It will only take you three minutes to get to Angel Island if you land on the halo path. Oh and look its right below us." Knuckles explained.

"Okay Tails, take us down slowly." Sonic said. Tails nodded in slight pain as they all descended to the stone pathway.

_Sorry I took so long. I didn't mean to hold you all up. Review please._


	17. Chapter 17

_Here is the next chapter everyone. I'm totally pumped for this next chapter. I don't know why but I am. Read and Review!_

**Chapter 16: Please Don't Fight!**

"Okay, so I have an emerald, Metal Sonic has an emerald, all of my four commanders have one, and the other one's location is unknown. Perfect, just perfect. Darkness has been pestering me about not making a complete plan ever since we've met and now there is proof that he's right…_'sigh'_…oh well. I'm not doing this to impress him. If I want the 'Egg Fort PT' to be fully compelled with power I'm going to seriously need to be on my toes." Eggman spoke to himself at his desk.

"Hey! Doctor there is some weird chaos energy surrounding our ship!" Decoe shouted from the control panel.

"It reads a maximum of…well actually the power level is off the scale…WHOA! NOW THE POWER LEVEL BROKE THE SCALE! This can't be a good thing." Bocoe said worriedly. Eggman sighed and squeezed both his index finger and thumb on the ridge of his nose in frustration.

"…Darkness…" Eggman mumbled. Suddenly purple and black gas circled the room. It caught both Bocoe and Decoe off guard and caused them to fall out of their seats. The gust of wind created by the strong force was enough to spread the papers Eggman was eying all across the room. The small lamp on his desk toppled over, this chair moved slightly, and many books fell off the metallic shelves in the room.

Suddenly the gas pulled together and started to form a cloaked being with a hidden face. As soon as his body was formed the wind stopped completely. Darkness had just arrived.

"Eggman." Darkness spoke in his usual gray like voice.

"Yeah what is it Darkness." Eggman said in an uncaring and bored voice while not moving from the area he sat. He was too idea frozen to mess around with evil spirits.

"It seems that, as I'm SURE you know, that Sonic and Tails had just met up with the echidna on Angel Island and defeated King Watt."

"So…"

"So, my spiritual reports speak of a yellow robot spotted at the scene that had a green chaos emerald in his arm and had YOUR symbol on the other!"

"…Still waiting for your point…"

"The prophecy did not say that your yellow robot intervened in that conflict! You tampered with the space time continuum by sending him there!"

"So what? You said we could do anything that tests the fox of his strength."

"Not when it involves a powerful source of energy like the master emerald!"

" '_piff'_ I can do whatever the hell I want…" Eggman began when suddenly a huge black claw of gas reached out in front of his face and slammed him against the metal wall behind him, causing the chair he was sitting in the topple over. The claw held Eggman there by a huge grasp on the neck.

"Usually I would kill someone for saying that to me…but I still need you in the prophecy." Darkness said while he pinned the struggling scientist to the wall.

"Shouldn't we help him out?" Whispered Decoe to Bocoe in a scared voice.

"…The doctor can handle this…I think…" Bocoe answered completely unsure of himself.

"You really speak of the prophecy a lot. Just because it was written in stone doesn't exactly mean every aspect will come true. I proved that when I sent Igneous to that island."

"You don't understand. I don't care about what you do to the fox. He won't die because of the kitsune inside him. What I cared about is you tampering with the Master Emerald!"

"How'd you-"

"I intercepted your mind. You told Igneous to steal the Master Emerald, didn't you?"

"…"

"I guess I'm right." Darkness was satisfied with what took place and thus let the genius go. Eggman fell to the floor and remained there feeling quite strange.

"No one, not even I can predict the effects of what might happen if the Kitsune came in contact with the Master Emerald. It was even a risk letting the fox journey to Angel Island. Sending your dumb ass robot there would have even more unpredictable effects. I like knowing what's going to happen, when it's going to happen. I watch over every aspect of time…always a step ahead of everyone else. I won't allow it to be ruined by an egg shaped humanoid.

"…" Eggman said nothing but was secretly smiling away from Darkness' view.

"In order to predict what your next move might be…I must read your mind!" Darkness all of a sudden slammed his hand on Eggman's forehead, which caused violent purple sparks to fly everywhere. The surges spread all over the place, startling the hell out of Bocoe and Decoe and reducing the monitor screens to static. After about a minute the surges stopped and the monitors returned to normal.

"You done." Eggman said finally getting up.

"…Your plans will never work…farewell Eggman." Darkness stated then left with a quick flash of purple and black smoke.

"…Yeah whatever…hope you burn in hell bitch." Eggman mumbled while brushing himself off. Suddenly the metal door burst open and both Bokkun and Igneous Rock came into the room.

"Eggman, I have good news and bad news." Igneous said.

"…Let me have it." Eggman said emotionlessly.

"The bad news is, I lost the Master Emerald and the two-tailed fox to a blue hedgehog and a red echidna. But the good news is, I'm still very SEXY! YEAH BABY!" Igneous said immediately starting to flex and pose. Bocoe, Decoe, and Bokkun's sweat dropped while Eggman merely sighed and sat back in his seat.

"…Okay the 4th strongest out of my four robot commanders failed…maybe the next one will have better luck…" Eggman stated whipping out and glancing at his white chaos emerald.

_At the Leaf Forest G.U.N base_

"Rouge! Hurry up and get out here so the G.U.N council can have a word with you!" SmokeStack said while bursting open the bathroom door and scolding the bat who was sitting naked in a bathtub filled with warm bubbles. She was lounging while also examining the purple chaos emerald she had with her.

"Okay, okay. I'll be out in a few weeks. Now could you close the door, I'm starting to get goosebumps on the exposed parts of my skin." Rouge said nonchalantly, as if he wasn't even intruding on her while she was taking a privacy bath.

"A few weeks? Tell me the exact time your getting out, please. It isn't wise to hold the council up." Smoke said a bit irritated.

"Alright, alright, I'll be out innnnnnnnnnnnnn…15 minutes."

Smoke was satisfied with the answer and thus closed the door. Rouge immediately went back to her emerald gazing.

"Oh man. Just look at that shine!"

_On Angel Island_

"So where exactly are you two headed anyway?" Knuckles had made them a meal out of the food contained on the island. It really wasn't much. There were berries, coconuts, watermelons, apples, and basically many other fruits as well.

Sonic loved chilidogs much better but gave them all a try. Tails ate a little bit too but needed help to reach the food since his arms and his tails were being soaked in ice. When Tails landed Knuckles and Sonic on the Halo path his arms and Tails were in extreme pain. Knuckles gathered ice from the top of the Ice Mountains and rapped them in plastic. He then placed it on Tails' tails and strapped them to Tails' arms. It was feeling better but the bag soon started to drip. Whenever Tails reached out to grab something the water would always drip on the food. Sonic began helping the fox feed himself since.

"To be honest Knux, we honestly don't know where we're going." Sonic answered while feeding the fox a piece of watermelon.

"Y-you don't?" Knuckles was a bit surprised. How do you battle evil forces over 80 ft in the air and not know where you're going?

"No. We were hoping to follow the clues leading to Eggman but so far there aren't any." Sonic explained.

"Eggman? Is he a fat guy wearing a red suit, has a mustache, has long legs, and smirks a lot?" Asked Knuckles.

"Yeah. Have you met him?" asked Tails while he ate the watermelon.

"Yeah, he told me that you guys were after the Master Emerald."

"And you believed him?" Sonic asked.

"Hey! I didn't even know who the hell he was okay!" Knuckles said defending himself.

"Well, I guess that's true…but, it doesn't change the fact that you're a sucker." Sonic smirked.

"What! You want to go again hedgehog! We'll see who the actual sucker is!" Knuckles extended his fist in Sonic's face.

"Please don't fight again." Asked a worried Tails. "We're not enemies, remember." Tails was a bit sad that friends could still fight each other like that and not care who got hurt.

"Fine. Your right Tails." Sonic said in agreement. Knuckles lowered his fist then sighed.

"Knuckles, tell us, have you any information whatsoever on any recent tragedies that have happened nearby? Any at all?" Sonic asked in a hopeful voice.

"…Well…there is a non-floating island not far from here called Christmas Island. I travel there sometimes when I'm tired of eating only fruits and when I want an actual hot meal. I've heard rumors that a mysterious light blue colored figure took over the island recently. Oddly, the amount of deaths there has increased within the following year. I'm not sure if that is anything worth exploring but it's all I got." Knuckles explained.

"What do you think Sonic?" Tails asked his hedgehog friend who was creepily staring out into space. "Hello. Sonic? Are you okay?" Tails asked.

"Yo, hedgehog! Wake up!" Knuckles yelled. Sonic immediately shook himself loose of the small trance he was in and turned to Tails.

"What? Did you say something?" Sonic asked.

"Yeah but you spaced out on us Sonic. It was kind of creepy. Are you okay?" Tails asked.

"…Yeah…it's just…"

"Yeah?" Tails asked.

"…Christmas Island…is the island I was born on…"

"What! Really? Is that true?!" asked an amazed fox. It was kind of cool to him that they were so close to his birthplace.

"Yes, it's true." Sonic said in a sad voice.

"What's the matter?" Tails asked noticing Sonic's sudden sadness.

"…Knuckles…you said there were mysterious deaths happening there right?" Sonic asked ignoring Tails' question. Tails' eyes widened when he heard that. He knew what Sonic was thinking about.

"Y-yeah." Knuckles answered.

"Tell me…did you hear anything about…two blue hedgehogs…one male and one female…anything at all…" Sonic was worried.

"No…not a thing." Knuckles informed. Sonic stood there with a lowered head for a few seconds before he lifted his head up, reviling a determined face.

"Come on! We're going to Christmas Island!" Sonic ordered as he turned around and picked his feet up.

"Wait a minute! You can't go there!" Knuckles shouted. Sonic put his feet down and turned to the echidna.

"Why not?" Sonic asked in a scary yet quiet voice. Tails was a bit taken a back by the hard, icy, and somewhat mean stare in Sonic's emerald green eyes.

"Because, number 1: You don't know in which direction to look and number 2: There is no way off the island except to use the busted planes that King Watt's men rode here and they were pretty messed up too. It would take weeks to fix just one of them. The only way I can get there is to glide by using a parasail but it got ripped up during the last visit." Knuckles explained.

"…Do you have a tool kit?" Sonic asked.

"Well…yeah but…I can't use the tools very well." He had a tool kit in his shed but just because he was supplied with the tools doesn't mean he knew how to use them like a skilled mechanic.

"Who said you were going to use them?" Sonic asked.

"What? Are you going to?"

Sonic shook his head then turned to Tails. The fox flinched when the icy stare was put onto him.

"M-me?" Tails asked.

"Of course you! Who else!" Sonic yelled.

"He can fix a plane?" asked Knuckles.

"Yes he can! He fixed mine! He can fix the others to! Right!" Sonic said still facing Tails. He was angry now. Tails backed up a bit scared of the way Sonic was acting.

"You don't have to yell at him you know!" Knuckles shouted at the hedgehog's sudden unfairness towards the scared fox.

"Tell me where the ships are!" Sonic shouted.

" _'Hmph'_ Well with that attitude-" Knuckles began before Sonic grabbed his chest and pulled him closer to his face. Tails was now completely terrified.

"I said to tell me where they are!" Sonic shouted.

"…NO! If you want to act like a jerk then you're going to get treated like one too!" Knuckles raised back a fist and launched it at Sonic's face. It hit him square in the nose and caused him to let go of the angry echidna. Knuckles back flipped then launched himself at Sonic and grabbed him. Once he did he pinned him to the ground and let him struggle.

"Get off of me Knucklehead!" Sonic shouted angrily. Sonic lifted both his feet up and kicked Knuckles hard in the stomach. The attack launched the echidna in the air allowing Sonic to be free. Sonic then jumped high above Knuckles and slammed his foot on his back. The echidna hit the ground hard.

"Errr! Bastard!" Knuckles was as angry as Sonic now.

"Now I'm going to ask you one last time! Where are those ships?" Sonic was enraged. Tails saw that this wasn't working. Fighting never solved anything. Encouraging Sonic to fight like Knuckles was doing was only fueling his rage. He understood what Sonic was going through. Unlike Sonic, however, Tails had no one there to turn to.

"Stop!" Tails shouted. Sonic turned to the fox in surprise. This gave Knuckles the chance to barrel under ground. Sonic lifted his foot out of the sudden empty space in the ground when he saw that Knuckles wasn't there. Sonic looked around anticipating where he would possibly show up.

"Come on out now Knuckles!" Sonic shouted.

"Please come out Knuckles! You guys don't have to fight! Please don't keep fighting!" Tails tried to plead. He knew that Knuckles didn't pay any attention to him when he noticed a rumbling space in the ground erupted open and out burst the red echidna himself. He was behind Sonic as well. Knuckles quickly launched an attack at Sonic.

The hedgehog turned around but he was too late.

Knuckles knew he had him now. That's when something unexpected happened. Tails jumped into Knuckles' path with his arms spread as a means of protection! Knuckles was completely surprised to see this. He was so close that he couldn't stop the attack! He immediately slowed down but it didn't help much as Knuckles' large fist impaled the fox hard in the stomach!

The force sent the fox staggering backward. A small trickle of blood came out of his mouth as he passed out while crashing into Sonic who was behind him.

_A few minutes later_

"Tails? Hey Knuckles he's waking up!" Sonic shouted to the echidna who was coming back to the hedgehog and fox with a cup of water. Knuckles immediately rushed forward while not spilling a drop of the water and set it down next to the fox.

"Tails? Are you alright?" Knuckles asked. Tails flickered his eyes open and saw the two worried rivals staring down at the dazed fox.

"…Yeah…I guess I'm okay…d-did you guys stop fighting…did you guys make up?" Tails asked feeling a slight pain in his stomach. Tails made a noticeable wince, which made both Sonic and Knuckles try and comfort him immediately. Tails looked down and saw a purple bruise appearing on his stomach.

"Yeah we made up…for now anyway. You were right, we got too carried away, especially me. I'm sorry about that buddy. It just…oh God I'm so selfish." Sonic put his head into his hands in shame.

"What? Why do you think that? You're the nicest guy I've ever met." Tails wondered.

"I know but the way I acted just now was unforgivable." Sonic said.

"That's right it was!" Knuckles shouted making Sonic feel worse.

"But if it's unforgivable then how come I forgive you Sonic?" Tails asked.

"Y-you do?" Sonic lifted his head out of his hands and looked at the smiling fox.

"I know how you feel Sonic." Tails assured. "Your worried about your parents aren't you?" Tails asked. Sonic nodded. Knuckles went bug-eyed when he heard that.

'_P-parents? So that's it. I thought he was just crazy. I sure wish I had some parents.'_ Knuckles thought.

"Yeah, I'm worried about them. Sorry for acting so selfish…again. I know you never knew your parents and there was no excuse for me to act the way I did over the issue." Sonic apologized.

"Your wrong Sonic. It's okay to love your parents. To be honest I've done some mean things too when I got angry about my parents being gone." Tails admitted.

"You did?"

"Yeah, one time I was so mad that I punched a tree really hard. I felt bad so I said I was sorry to it. I think it heard me because it gave me an apple, and I was so hungry too." Tails explained. Sonic chuckled. Knuckles looked confused.

"It gave you an apple?" asked the echidna.

"He means the force of his punch knocked an apple out of the tree." Sonic whispered to Knuckles.

"Ohhhhhhhh. Okay I get it." Knuckles remarked.

"Hey Knuckles, where are the ships by the way?" Tails asked while picking up the water set down by Knuckles and chugging it down.

"Oh yeah, I drug one here while you were unconscious. It was the least damaged one I could find. Are you sure you can fix it, I mean your kinda young to be a mechanic don't you think?" Knuckles asked.

"Don't doubt what he can do Knux. He fixed up my biplane and made it look brand spanking new for me. He can do the same for you." Sonic winked and gave a thumbs up to Knuckles. Knuckles stood there for a second then smiled in acceptance.

"Okay, sure, why not? When can you get started on the fixing Tails?" Knuckles asked.

"I can start right now actually." Tails said while stretching his arms out. Sonic and Knuckles both gasped.

"Don't you think you should rest first? That punch did a number on you." Sonic informed.

"That's alright Sonic. I'm fine. My stomach hurts a bit but that's it. Hey Knuckles where's your tool kit?" Tails asked in a chipper voice.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, right, it's in my tool shed. I'll go get it for you." Knuckles turned to run off but stopped to face Tails. "Oh and by the way…I'm sorry if I hurt you with that punch." Knuckles said then took off.

It took Tails the rest of the afternoon to finish the ship. It seemed no less advanced then the biplane Sonic had but because of his hurt stomach he could only work at a certain passé. He was done by sunset. A beautiful portrait mixture of violet, red, yellow, and orange filled the sky as the sun began to set. Tails wiped the beads of sweat off his head when he was finished and stared at it. It was so beautiful how the colors mixed together to make such a picture you only saw in art museums.

After Tails was done he informed Sonic and Knuckles. They came to look at the ship and were completely amazed at the way it looked. When Tails was given praise by the glee filled Sonic and Knuckles they all headed inside Knuckles' house to play charades. They ended up having a lot of fun. When Knuckles pretended he was a dog that stood on four legs instead of the original two that dogs on Mobius were usually seen with Sonic guessed it was Knuckles himself. This got Knuckles mad but never the less it all turned out well.

_That night_

"Time to rest up buddy." Sonic said while tucking the fox in his bed. He saw Tails squirm a bit, which made Sonic raise an eyebrow. "Something wrong?" He asked.

"I don't want the itchy blanket. Can I have a more comfy one?" Tails whined. Sonic nodded, rushed to Knuckles' closet, and came back with a more smooth and comfy looking blanket. He then tucked Tails in with this one. Tails sighed in comfort and rolled his head on the cold pillow.

"That better?" Sonic asked.

"Uh-huh. Thanks Sonic." Tails said. Sonic smiled and got up to leave but felt a tug on his arm. He turned to see Tails holding his arm with a sad expression on his face.

"What is it?" The curious hedgehog asked.

"Well…I told you I'm afraid of the dark, right? And I also said I can't get to sleep with the light on and since there is no nightlight…" Tails began.

"You want me to sleep with you." Sonic finished his sentence. Tails nodded in embarrassment. "No problem buddy." Sonic hopped under the covers with Tails just like they did back at Sonic's home in Station Square. "Man this bed is small." Sonic complained. "While I sleep I'm bound to roll over and fall off the bed. We need to get a bigger one." Said Sonic while getting up.

_In Knuckles' bedroom_

"Now it's time to get some well deserved rest." Knuckles said while getting into a comfortable position on his bed.

"You mind scooting over a bit Knux." Sonic asked. Knuckles turned and saw Sonic and Tails lying in his huge bed.

"What the?! Get out of my bed!" Knuckles shouted.

"Awe, come on Knux. Your bed is big enough to fit five people at least. Ours was only built for one." Sonic explained.

"That's why they were the guest beds!" He shouted.

"Please Knuckles, Sonic can't sleep with me if there is no room on my bed. I'm afraid of the dark and I want someone to be there with me." Tails explained.

"Yeah Knuckles, do it for the kid." Sonic said. Knuckles growled then sighed.

"Fine! But not a single sound out of either of you!" Knuckles said scooting over. Sonic and Tails scooted over as well.

"Well, good night Tails." Sonic said.

"Good night Sonic." Tails said back.

"What did I say?!" Knuckles shouted. Both Sonic and Tails chuckled at the fact that they ticked Knuckles off. A few minutes later they were all asleep.

_On Christmas Island_

"Ah man, I look awesome!" The robot commander Karst Ice sat on his thrown and continued to look at himself in his long mirror that doubled as a weapon. He had a light blue metal coating and had a blue sphere attached to his chest. He had very sharp ice crystals on his head that were indestructible. He had spikes of ice and metal sticking out of numerous places on his upper body and then they smoothed out as they reached his legs. He also wore a dark blue cape to match his light blue appearance. Just like Igneous, he too had a human inside of him. He also contained the light blue chaos emerald inside the blue sphere in his chest.

"Commander Karst sir, we've received a complaint about the high taxing again." Said a smaller robot as he strutted into the room.

"Well, you know what to do. Destroy his house and beat him down. Anyone else who complains will get the same fait." Karst said not really looking at his servant.

"Well…uh…sir that's not all what he said…" Said the servant. Karst lowered his staff and stared at the servant with slight interest.

"Oh really…what did the complaint say?" Karst asked. Instead of answering him the servant gave him a note. Karst took it and read the thing in his head. When he was done he crumpled it up and threw it away. "Such language! I do believe it is time to pay someone a visit!" Karst got out of his seat and headed out the door for town.

_At a particular home in the wide town on Christmas Island_

"But honey I-" started a male bear but was interrupted by his wife.

"NO CHAD! I'm leaving and I'm taking the kids too! You completely endangered our family by sending that letter to Karst. We all know he's coming to kill us now. How could you?" His wife stuffed a few things in a small suitcase and gave it to her daughter who was standing right beside her mother.

"I did it because someone needs to stand up to him Marian."

"Someone did stand up to him and now he's dead. Sometimes I question why we even got married Chad." Marian gave the other suitcase to her son and led the kids to the door. Chad didn't hesitate to follow them.

"Marian, please! Don't go!" Chad begged.

"Come on children. Lets leave before-" Marian began until a huge explosion of ice crystals burst through the door and struck Marian through the stomach, chest, and heart.

"Marian!" Shouted Chad as he watched the dead body of his wife hit the floor as well as the door. He looked up and saw Karst Ice now holding his son and daughter but their necks.

"You sent that nasty letter didn't you. Hahahahahaha! How foolish can you people be? Did you actually think I wouldn't take it personally?" Karst asked.

"Let my children go!" Chad ordered.

"And now your giving me orders? Ah hell no! No way am I going to take that. Hey kids want to see a neat trick?" Karst said turning to the scared children. "Commander Karst knows how to snap someone's neck! Wanna see!" He said sadistically.

"No! You can't!" Chad shouted. Without warning Karst squeezed both the kids' necks extremely hard until their necks literally snapped in half!

"Oops! Looks like I just did." Karst said while letting the dead bodies of the two children fall to the ground. Karst stared at his blood stained metal hands and sighed.

"Oh great, now I'm going to need them re-polished." Karst complained.

"Y-you evil bastard!" Chad yelled in rage as he charged at the robot. Karst merely sighed.

"Again with the strong language. You all really are stupid aren't you?" Karst asked. Chad was about a foot away from him when the blue sphere in Karst's chest began to glow. Soon a HUGE ice crystal shot out and impaled Chad in the stomach so hard it almost cut his body completely in half! Karst then withdrew his large crystal and let the body hit the floor and join the other three in the bloody pile.

"Well, that was fun." Karst said sounding bored. Suddenly he heard ringing in his arm. Karst pressed a button on his arm, which activated the communication device. "Hello. Karst Ice speaking." He said nonchalantly.

"_Karst! This is Eggman."_ Said Eggman from the other side.

"Oh yes Mr. Dr. Eggman. How may I serve you?"

"_Listen, there is a blue hedgehog, a two-tailed fox, and possibly a red echidna heading your way. It is important that you find and capture the fox immediately. The future of the Eggman Empire depends on it."_ Eggman stated.

"It's an honor to be dealt with such a burden sir. I promise you I will have the fox for you."

"_Don't underestimate them like Igneous Rock did Karst Ice. They are incredibly crafty." _Eggman warned.

"Igneous failed? Ha! I knew he would sooner or later."

"_I'm right here with Eggman, Karst! I heard what you said." _Igneous said on the other end

"And I stand by it. Do not worry Dr.Eggman; I assure you they won't be a problem." With that he turned off his communicator. "Now to get myself re-polished." He said while rushing back to his palace.

_The next morning_

"AHHHHH!!!" Tails woke up screaming. He had that same weird dream again. It was the one with the scared lady holding the baby, three figures at the front door, and gunfire. After that Tails woke up screaming his head off. When he calmed down he looked down and saw a large wet spot on the bed.

"Uh oh." Tails said in slight embarrassment.

_Outside the house_

"Well, everything is ready to go." Said Sonic as he eyed the ship Tails fixed yesterday.

"Yup, now all we need to do is wake up the fox and…oh here he comes now." Knuckles said. Tails approached the echidna a bit ashamed of himself. "Why do you look so down?" asked Knuckles noticing the kid's sad expression.

"…Um…Knuckles…" Tails blushed. "I…had an accident in your bed…I'm sorry." Tails admitted then shut his eyes expecting to be hit. When he wasn't he looked up and saw Sonic holding Knuckles back from attacking the fox.

"Knuckles! Chill! He's only 4 years old!" Sonic tried to calm him down.

"No, he's dead that's what he is!" Knuckles shouted.

"Come on Knux, we've all had accidents before. Even at the age we are. I'm 11 years old and I've had an accident sometime this year. Come on admit you have too." Sonic tried to push the truth out of Knuckles.

"…Actually I did it twice this year but that still doesn't excuse…" He stopped when he saw Sonic glaring at him and tapping his foot. Knuckles sighed. "Fine! Lets stop talking about this and go already. Did you clean yourself up Tails?" asked Knuckles.

"Uh-huh." Tails answered.

"Good, I don't want it smelling like piss the whole time we fly there." Knuckles said while he hopped into the ship. Tails walked up to Sonic with a pouted look.

"Hey, hey, there's no need to be embarrassed. Accidents happen." Sonic assured the fox.

"I know but…the dream that I had caused it…there was a lady holding a baby and then I heard a gun shot and then the next thing I know I'm in a wet bed." Tails explained.

"Is this the first time you've had this dream? It seems pretty weird." Sonic said.

"No, it's not. I think it's the third time. That woman and baby look so familiar…" Tails began.

"I'm dying of old age! Lets go!" Shouted a sleepy and impatient Knuckles.

"We'll talk about this later." Sonic said while hopping into the cockpit as well. Tails stared at the ground the looked up at Sonic and smiled. He then flew into the pilots' seat.

"What are you doing Tails?" asked Sonic.

"I'm going to fly us there…please Sonic." Tails begged.

"Sure, go ahead buddy, I trust you." Sonic winked and gave him his traditional thumbs up. Tails gave him a thumbs up back and took control of the wheel. Knuckles had already fallen asleep.

"Okay, lets go to Christmas Island!" Tails shouted as they closed the glass hatch door and took off.

_There you go. If you didn't figure it out already Karst Ice is completely obsessed with himself and how he looks. Next chapter will be soon. Review please._


	18. Chapter 18

_Sorry I was out so long. School is such a bitch! But I'm back and ready to go. WHOO HOO! 131 reviews! I must be a good writer. Here it is, the next chapter of Homeless Two Tail._

**Chapter 17: Welcome to Karst Island, SLAVES!**

Amy Rose walked the seemingly empty streets of the huge town on Christmas Island. She looked all over the place and everywhere she turned there was no one in sight. It gave her a frightful and uneasy feeling.

"Hello…is anybody there?" Amy asked. She sighed and made her way to the beach. There wasn't much she could do at this point. "I wonder if I'll ever find someone to tell me about Sonic. I know this is where he was born." Amy approached the shore and sat on the wet snow covered sand. She stared out at the ocean and smiled. "It sure is pretty." She admitted.

Then suddenly she heard jet sounds roaring from a distance in front of her. She stood up and looked at the sky in wonder.

"What's that?" She asked and pondered. Suddenly a small ship came into view and started to jet closer and closer. "What the…"

"LOOK OUT BELOW!" Shouted a familiar blue hedgehog.

"AHHHHHHHHH!" Amy screamed as she ducked to the ground. Almost immediately as she did the small ship zoomed past her head and slammed into a tree. She turned to look at the now smoking cockpit of the ship in shock.

"Kid…we really need to get you some flying lessons…ugh." Knuckles wined as he got out of the steaming ship. Sonic and Tails soon crawled out as well.

"Sorry Knuckles, I guess I needed to fine tune a few things." Tails apologized.

"SONIC!" Amy shouted in excitement. Sonic flinched at the sound of that voice. His sweat dropped and he hesitantly turned his head around to face the pink menace.

"A-Amy?" He said shockingly. Before he could react to anything she gave him another one of her famous bone crushing hugs.

"ACK! It hurts!" Sonic wailed.

"You know you like it." Amy said increasing the intensity of the hug.

"…Actually…I like breathing… a whole lot better." Sonic said while his face turned blue to match the color of his fur.

"Sorry." Amy finally let go to give Sonic some air.

"…Is she your girlfriend Sonic?" Knuckles asked.

"You bet I am!" Amy shouted.

"No she's not." Sonic protested.

"Don't deny our love Sonic."

"I'm not denying it, I'm saying it doesn't exist." Sonic argued.

"Hey Amy, how'd you get here anyway." Tails asked.

"I knew the cruise ship was passing by Sonic's birth place so I drove the escape pod there. Clever huh?" Amy explained.

"What are you guys talking about? What cruise ship?" Knuckles asked completely confused.

"It's nothing Knux." Sonic reassured then looked around the snow-covered island. He remembered what it was like living here. He would always go out and play in the snow with or without a winter coat. Because of that he would occasionally catch a cold. His parents always gave him special care when that happened. The blue hedgehog can still remember being a 4-year-old with a cold, sitting on a fluffy couch, a blanket rapped around his body, a red stuffy nose, his feet soaking in a small tub of water, and his mom feeding him chicken noodle soup while he watched T.V. Those were great times.

His parents loved him and in return he loved them back. When he became old enough he eventually left the island with a tear in his eye. He wondered where they were now.

"Okay, I can deal with the fact that its' nothing." Knuckles said responding to Sonic's last statement.

"Huh? Did you say something?" Sonic really wasn't paying much attention to him.

"Hey Sonic, this place is cool. Did you really live here?" Tails asked truly amazed.

"Uh huh. We should really find someplace to stay in. I know this great hotel. Come on follow me." Sonic ran toward town with Tails, Knuckles, and Amy close behind.

_A few minutes later_

"This is a hotel? I thought hotels were suppose to be big and fancy and smell like rich people?" The 4-year-old fox stated.

"Well yeah but folks around here are mostly suburban types even though we all live in huge wooden house. This is more of a lodge then a hotel but it's got some of the same principals." Sonic explained.

"Well, whatever. Lets just get a room and ask these people about this new ruler and your parents already." Knuckles said entering the lodge. Everyone else quickly followed. There were many male, buff, and brown hedgehogs sitting at many different tables drinking beer and laughing. All activity stopped when Sonic and the others came in. The tough looking men stared at them for a while making Tails and Amy feel uncomfortable.

"They look scary Sonic." Tails said.

"…They may look the part…but trust me they're harmless." Sonic reassured.

"Hey is that Sonic?" asked one man.

"I think it is." Said another.

"It's Sonic!"

"He's really back!"

"HURRAY!" They all yelled and crowded around the hedgehog and his friends. One of them gave Sonic punch on the arm and Sonic gave it back.

"It's great to see you all again." Sonic smiled. Suddenly he was picked up by a brown hedgehog and given a noogie. "Hey! Come on! Stop it! I'm not four anymore." Sonic protested while laughing.

"It was either this or a wedgie, and since you don't where any clothes…" the buff hedgehog answered.

"HA! HA! You always did know how to make me laugh Antiguan." Sonic laughed. Antiguan finally put the hedgehog down after that.

"Hey, why don't you and your friends get settled in?" Antiguan suggested.

"Sure, come on guys." Sonic said leading them all to a table.

"So what has my favorite hedgehog been up to while he was gone?" the 16-year-old brown hedgehog asked as he took a seat.

"Nothing much. I pounded the crap out of Eggman and made a few new friends. This is Tails; he's my main man." Sonic said pointing to the shy fox.

"H-hi." Tails said while blushing.

"Awe, he's cute." Antiguan assured.

"This is Knuckles, my new rival…" Sonic began.

"We're NOT friends…I'm just hanging with him because he isn't as boring as protecting the Master Emerald." Knuckles said.

"Sounds like you've got issues." Antiguan said.

"WHAT! NO I DON'T!" Knuckles shouted. Everyone in the bar laughed.

"Chill Knux, he was just kidding." Sonic explained. Knuckles did nothing but lie back in his seat and mutter something under his breath.

"And this is Amy…my other friend…JUST friends." Sonic pointed out.

"We may be now, but I will be his future wife." Amy said.

"Pleased to meet you miss. That's one lucky catch you have their Sonic."

"What catch? She's not my girlfriend!" Sonic argued.

"Sure she isn't." Antiguan laughed.

"She isn't." Said Sonic.

"You guys seem like weird friends to me. Why do you guys pick on each other and laugh about it." Tails asked.

"Because we know we're just playing with each other." Sonic said.

"We don't hit and prank each other out of spite. We do it because it's fun." Antiguan explained.

"Yeah, I remember when I was 6 and he was 11, Antiguan tricked me into putting on white briefs, blue jeans, and a blue t-shirt to see if I would like wearing clothes for a change. I told him I liked it a little and then he gave me a huge surprise atomic wedgie. That night I got him back by putting cream in his hand while he slept and tickled his nose with a feather so he would spread it across his face and then I would ice cubes on his chest. We both laughed it off and continued doing stuff like that to each other." Sonic explained.

"That seems like a weird friendship to me." Knuckles said.

"Actually, it sounds kind of fun now." Tails said. Tails got out of his seat, picked up a whip cream aerosol can and sprayed it in Sonic's face. Everyone sat there for a minute a bit surprised until they all laughed, including Sonic.

"Oh, you want to play huh." Sonic snatched the can from Tails and sprayed him playfully as well. Tails laughed but didn't expect what happened next. Sonic grabbed the fox and started tickling him all over. Tails immediately fell to the floor and started to laugh.

"HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! STOP IT! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!" Tails' was tearing up now. Sonic wouldn't let up though.

"Say I win Tails! Say it!" Sonic laughed.

"OKAY! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! YOU WIN! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! STOP!" Tails laughed. Sonic did what he was told and let Tails lie on the ground huffing and puffing. Soon after, everyone in the bar cracked up laughing.

"That was fun." Sonic said.

"…Yeah…Hey Antiguan, where's the bathroom…I suddenly need to go…really bad." Tails asked.

"It's right down the hall." Antiguan pointed to the hallway door. Tails headed for it and came back a few minutes later to see them all laughing again.

"What's so funny?" Tails asked. They all stared at Tails and snickered.

"We were considering having you be one of us. You know like Sonic is. Knuckles and Amy refused so we're asking you." Antiguan explained.

"…Uh…sure…what do I have to do?

_Outside in the backyard_

"Come on Antiguan, he doesn't have to do this." Sonic said to his 16-year-old friend. "You guys will still be his friends like you are with everyone else on this island even though most of them aren't in the group." Sonic explained.

"I know that. But being a valid member of our group means more than being friends. It means you can hold you own against the constant pranks and playful hitting without crying or getting upset. The people who don't want to be in the group are still our friends but we don't prank or noogie them because they're not."

"But does he have to…" Sonic began.

"Don't worry Sonic. This is nothing major. I want to prove I can be one of you guys. Your really cool Sonic and I want to be brave and strong and daring like you are. That's why I want to be a group member." Tails assured.

"Are you sure?" Sonic asked still a little worried.

"I'm sure." Tails was confident. Hanging with Sonic made him so. He was not going to let his hero down.

"Okay, the first daring feat is this." Antiguan put a small plate of live worms in front of Tails. The fox stared at it for a while before he asked his question.

"What am I suppose to do?" Tails asked.

"Your suppose to eat them!" Antiguan stated.

"Your gonna make a 4-year-old eat worms!" Amy was disgusted.

"We're not making him do anything. He doesn't have to if he doesn't want to." Antiguan stated. The whole crowd of people watched as the fox stared at the dish. He then turned to Sonic who was smiling slightly. Tails turned back to his plate and finally picked up a worm. They all watched in silence as Tails lifted it up and slurped it into his mouth.

"EWWWW!!!" I can't believe he just did that!" Amy shouted. Tails let the little critter slither down his throat and then took what he just did in.

"Hmmm…it tastes like chicken." Tails said.

"That's what I thought when I tried it." Sonic said. Everyone laughed while Tails ate more worms. Since the plate was small it didn't take long for him to finish eating.

"Great you passed the first test. Now lets see you eat these small crickets." Antiguan placed a different plate in front of Tails. Tails was a bit hesitant at first but then tried them all the same.

"They taste like muffins." Tails said. Everyone laughed at this too, except Amy who was busy throwing up behind a bush.

"Now for the final test." Antiguan came to Tails with a tray this time. It was something unlike the other stuff and everyone knew it. Everyone took a step back and watched as Antiguan set the tray down in front of the curious fox. They all stood in silence and waited for the next thing to happen. Antiguan lifted the tray.

"Behold! The final test is to eat…Mr. Smut's fruit cake!" Antiguan shouted. Everyone made an _'ugh'_ sound and stuck out there tongue. Tails flinched when the smell of the horrid fruitcake reached his nose.

"EWWW! It smells like old monkey barf!" Tails said pinching his nose.

"Come on kid, you can do it! Don't quit now." Antiguan cheered.

"Oh man, _'ack'_ it smells nasty." Tails said.

"Come on Tails. I know you can do it." Sonic encouraged.

"Your not gonna let a fruit filled stink pile get in your way right?" Knuckles asked. He was enjoying this now.

"Well…" Tails faced the cake again and saw a small bubble form and pop on it.

"TAILS! TAILS! TAILS! TAILS! TAILS…" Everyone cheered for the fox. Tails started to twitch but eventually he picked the small piece of death in a pastry and put it toward is mouth. The cheering stopped as people waited anxiously for him to do it. Tails opened his mouth and immediately dropped the whole thing inside. Everyone cheered while Tails began to chew the horrid food and swallow.

"Alright Tails! You did it!" Sonic aid while giving his buddy a noogie. Tails laughed along with them in excitement.

"Hey, can I get some water." Tails asked.

"Sure buddy, who wouldn't want something to wash that mess down with?" Agreed Sonic.

_Meanwhile hiding in the bushes_

"Hey boss, I think we've got tourists." Said a small light blue robot talking into a walkie-talkie.

_"Oh really, well then I guess we'll have to greet our new guests to my frozen paradise. I'll make sure to give them a warm welcome. Now tell me who they are!"_ Karst demanded on the other end.

"They are a blue hedgehog and an orange two-tailed fox." Explained the robot.

_"WHAT! They're here? Just like Eggman said. I have something special planned for them, especially the fox. But I suppose it wouldn't do a little harm if I had a little fun with them first. I'll be out as soon as I can. NOW HANG UP YOU IDIOT! Wait,No, on second thought I'll hang up first…"_ Karst said before the robot's communicator went fuzzy.

"Hard ass." The robot mumbled and went back to the castle.

_That night_

Everyone was singing, laughing, drinking, and having a good time. That is until Sonic finally got the nerve to ask Antiguan the question he came here to ask in the first place.

"Hey Antiguan. Could you come here for a sec?" Sonic asked.

"What is it Sonic?" He asked.

"Well, I was just wondering…I've been gone for awhile and…can you tell me where my parents are?" Sonic asked. All activity immediately stopped in the room. It was silent.

"Why do you want to know?" Asked Antiguan in a surprisingly calm voice.

"Because they're my parents dough head!" Sonic shouted.

"_Sigh'_ Listen Sonic I…"

"It's something bad isn't it?" Sonic guessed. Tails had a worried look on his face as he saw the two talking.

"Well…we don't really know…"

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"…When Karst Ice showed up on the island a few years ago he took us over and started giving us an unfair tax. One not many of us can pay. One particular tax day your parents couldn't pay. Karst got mad and took them to his castle. We haven't heard from them since. Considering how long it's been we presume they're dead." Antiguan explained.

"…So you just assumed that they were dead…and did nothing to stop it!" Sonic was starting to get angry again.

"We couldn't do anything about it!" Antiguan shouted back.

"Yes you could! But you were probably just too lazy to help them out. What kind of sick…!" Sonic was struck across the face by Antiguan's fist. The hedgehog fell to the floor and sat up even angrier.

"LAZY! You think we didn't help out your parents because we were lazy! He's a hell of a lot stronger then any of us! If we went it then what would that accomplish? Nothing. We would've just been killed off as well. It isn't our fault Sonic!"

"Err! _"sigh"_ Listen…I…I…" Sonic tried to speak. Tails got out of his seat and went over to the hedgehog.

"I'm sorry about what happened to your parents…I truly am…but we couldn't do anything about it…I'm sorry I hit you buddy."

"…No…I'm sorry for blaming you…it wasn't your fault…Eggman and his DAMN ROBOTS! It seems like every time I take one out…" Sonic started to have flash backs of Metal Sonic, Igneous Rock, the cruise ship invasion, and the Westside Island invasion.

"…50 more take its place." Sonic said in a struggling voice. The hedgehog got up off the ground and, since the party was pretty much over, decided to leave.

"Sonic, wait up!" Tails followed his hero out the door. Amy was about to follow as well but Knuckles grabbed her arm.

"I think he needs Tails more then you right now. Call me crazy." Knuckles said. Amy didn't take it as an insult. Instead she stepped back and sat back down.

Outside 

"Sonic, are you alright?" Tails asked as he followed his friend across the empty town.

"No, I'm not." Sonic answered dully.

"Can I help?" Tails asked.

"…I doubt it." Sonic said finally stopping.

"Please." Tails said grabbing Sonic's arm.

_"Sigh'_ Sorry Tails. It's just…I feel like it's sort of my fault…after all I wasn't there to protect them…and now…"

"It isn't your fault Sonic. You didn't know Karst was going to invade Christmas Island." Tails said.

"Actually, it's been renamed Karst Island." Came a voice from behind. Both Sonic and Tails turned around and saw a tall, male silver colored hedgehog with visible bags under his eyes and a pale face.

"W-who are you?" Tails asked.

"I'm Todd Banks." He said in a quiet voice.

"Todd?" Sonic recognized the name and turned around. "Todd!" Sonic jumped up and ran over to him.

"How's it going? How's Miya and little Yaupon." Sonic asked. Todd said nothing for a while and then turned around.

"If you want to visit then follow me." He said in a freaky calm voice.

"Todd? Are you all right? You seem to have changed. You were my dad's best friend who always made me laugh till I cried…what happened?"

"…A lot of things change over time Sonic…I'll show you." He said walking down a pathway. Sonic and Tails looked at each other and followed. The more they walked the more familiar the surroundings were to Sonic.

"Wow, home sure has changed. You still live in the house next door to my mom and dad's right?" Sonic asked. Todd said nothing. Sonic frowned when he got no answer.

Finally they made it to their destination. Sonic was shocked and stunned at the same time. Todd's house was a mess. The nice shinny brown glazed wood was now black and old. Sonic turned to where his house was suppose to be but didn't see any trace of it.

"W-where is my house?" Sonic asked.

"It was burnt down." Todd said as he entered his home. Sonic and Tails followed close behind. The place was a dump. Old newspapers and tattered books lay everywhere. Pencils, marbles, and etc. were there as well.

"Wow this place is a mess." Tails said.

"…Yaupon!" Shouted Todd as he called for his son. Suddenly a little ratting was heard and a shy silver colored 4-year-old hedgehog stepped out and stared at Sonic and Tails.

"That's Yaupon! Wow! The last time I saw him he was only about 1 month old!" Sonic was amazed. Yaupon ran behind his father's back and grabbed his pants leg in shyness. Todd gave the child a mean glare, which made him let go of his leg. That's when Sonic walked over and knelt down at him.

"Hey buddy. Do you remember me?" Sonic knew he didn't but it was still fun to talk to him like that. Tails walked over to the silver hedgehog and stuck his hand out.

"Hi." Tails said in a friendly voice. Yaupon flinched for a second and eventually reached out to grab Tails' hand. They shook and Yaupon immediately pulled his hand back. Sonic noticed Yaupon was wearing blue shorts and a white t-shirt. Sonic and Tails both wore no clothes except shoes and socks so they were a little skeptical about his appearance.

Animals in Sonic's world have the choice of either wearing clothes or not. It doesn't matter. However, all the girls in this world wore clothes for obvious reasons. It was rare to see a male anything walking around in clothes but it wasn't a huge surprise. Sonic took his eyes off his clothes then focused on his face. It was a sad and depressed look. It was as if the world had just dropped a huge bomb on this kid.

"Hey kid, are you feeling alright?" Sonic asked.

"He's fine." Todd answered for Yaupon even though it wasn't true.

"O-okay. So tell me, why is my parent's house burnt down and where is your wife Miya?" Sonic asked.

"Sigh' Miya. It happened about two years after you left. You see…"

_Flashback_

2-year-old Yaupon watched as his mother fixed the bolts on the high upper deck of the mechanical 3-story building.

"Mommy! Can I go up now?" Asked the anxious hedgehog.

"Not now honey. I need to tighten this for the painting competition today."

"Panking?" asked the Two year old.

"Painting." His mom corrected.

"I want to help." Yaupon said again.

"Sorry but it's too dangerous. I'm almost done anyway." Suddenly Todd came by, picked his son up, held him in the air by his arms and used his hands to cover Yaupon's face.

"Guess who." He said.

"Ummmmmmmmmm…is it daddy?" asked Yaupon.

"Hey, you got it right!" Todd laughed as he took his hands off Yaupon's eyes.

"Yeah, I got it right." Cheered the 2-year-old. Suddenly their mother came down from the lift next to the 3-story building and ran to hug Todd and her son. They hugged back until Yaupon asked a question.

"Hey mommy, why is the pank…uh…pant…p-painting contest so high up?"

"Well, because the contest is to see who can paint the most beautiful picture at the sides of the building? We use the lift to get up and down and paint the whole side. Whoever has the best picture wins." Explained the female hedgehog.

"Oh…are you good at it?" Yaupon asked.

"Is she good at it? My wife is the best when it comes to painting." Todd said. Suddenly there was a horn heard in the distance. "Oh no! It's pay day!" Todd panicked.

"What! Oh no!" Miya cried as they ran home. Once they reached the suburbs everyone was standing in a line. They got into the line and watched as Karst collected the money. They all flinched when Karst reached them. Todd gave him $150 dollars. Karst stared at it then faced Todd.

"What the hell is this?!" He shouted as he slammed the money on the floor and stomped on it. "I asked for a hell of a lot more than this!" He shouted. Yaupon was really frightened by this. Just looking at the half-robot made him shiver. "We're sorry sir." Todd said.

"Sorry! Is that the best you can…hey your that woman doing the fine art contest aren't you." Karst said turning to his wife.

"Y-yes." Said the scared Miya.

"Oh, well in that case, I'm looking forward to the competition. I love fantastic art. I'll be watching." Karst went right by them and on to the next person. They all stood there then sighed when he left. Todd felt a pull on his pants leg and looked down at little Yaupon.

"Daddy, he's scary." He said on the brink of crying. Todd picked his son up and carried him home. After Yaupon got home to have dinner he went to the competition with his father. The hedgehog was still scared but his father tried to reassure him it was nothing.

Then the contest began. Todd saw Karst was in the crowd as well. As a matter of fact he was sitting right next to him!

"Hope you enjoy the show." Karst whispered to Todd. Todd flinched as his literally cold breath hit his ear. Yaupon looked like he was about to cry. They all sat and watched as Miya made her painting strokes and the other contestant did hers. After a few minutes Miya still wasn't done with the top part. She then began to reach for the rope on the lift and tried to pull on it.

"Hey you want some peanuts." Karst said as he handed Todd a peanuts bag. Todd took it not wanting to offend him. Put when he reached inside there were no peanuts. They were screws and bolts. Todd raised his eyebrows then noticed Miya's metal lift was squeaking. He put two and two together and…

"OH NO!" Todd shouted as he tried to leave the stands. Karst just smiled at his attempt. When Todd got up he couldn't move. He looked down and saw his feet frozen to the floor of the stands! "MIYA! DON'T PULL ON THE ROPE!" Todd shouted. Miya didn't really hear him all that well however, so she pulled on it anyway. Suddenly the lift broke apart.

"AHH!" Miya shouted. The lift broke apart and she fell 3-storys! Suddenly Yaupon got out of his seat and rushed off the stands.

"MOMMY!" He shouted.

"Yaupon! Come back!" Shouted Todd. Yaupon didn't listen however.

He thought he could make it. He thought he could catch her…but alas it was not meant to be. "MOMMY!" Yaupon made one last cry out for his mother before she fell head first on the concrete.

Later that night it was raining madly. Thunder cracked in the sky and lightning struck. Both Todd and Yaupon stood over Miya's casket in sadness.

"…Daddy…I want mommy back." Cried Yaupon.

"…So do I…" he said as he picked his son up and began to hug him.

_End flashback_

Sonic clenched his fist tightly. He was fidgeting madly. How could someone be so evil? He taxes them on a regular basis then kills them when they can't pay. It made Sonic want to run to the next living thing a kill it himself. Tails was crying now and so was Yaupon.

"That heartless evil…!" Sonic began.

"I miss MOMMY! I couldn't save her! It was my fault!" Yaupon cried. Sonic was going to comfort him when Todd interrupted.

"Stop your useless crying! She is gone and there is nothing you can to change that! Get over it you whining child." Todd said harshly.

"Hey! Don't talk to him like that! He has a right to miss his mom." Sonic protested.

"What's missing her gonna do. Absolutely nothing. You're better off forgetting her Yaupon." Todd said. Before Sonic could respond a huge ice brick burst through the window. They all went outside to see what happened. Sonic's face went blind with rage when he saw who it was.

"Oh, I'm sorry, was I interrupting anything?" Karst Ice smirked while he stood there fumbling another ice brick in his hands. Behind him were three big guard robots that looked really buff and strong. Karst took a step forward and made a shuffling sound as his foot pierced through the snow.

"You've got a lot of nerve coming here you bastard!" Sonic was furious.

"I only came here because I heard there were new tourists on the island. I only wanted to welcome them. A blue hedgehog and a two-tailed fox. What a rare pair."

"I don't want to here any of your bull-crap! Your ass is mine! I'm sending you straight to hell you one eyed frost emitting trash heap!" Sonic said running toward him.

"My, my, what a temper." Karst said unfazed.

"You don't seem to know who your dealing with!" Sonic jumped and lashed a kick out at him. Karst immediately pulled out his staff mirror and blocked it. He then twirled it around and activated an ice beam. The beam hit Sonic's feet and caused him to fall back and land in the snow hard. He got up but couldn't run. His feet were in a frozen block of ice.

"Apparently, YOU don't know whom YOUR dealing with!" Karst said, as he stood there very proud of himself. "It appears I need to show you who the boss is around here. GAURDS! Beat up the fox! But not too hard, after all, Eggman wants him." He commanded. The three guards ran past Sonic and grabbed Tails. Sonic hopped around to face him but that's all he could do.

"Sonic!" Tails shouted as the robots began to brutally attack Tails.

"Tails! Stop it right now you sick twisted…" Sonic began.

"There's that temper again. Ruff him up some more!" Karst shouted to his guards. The robots began to punch and kick him even harder. The fox's cries for help were left unattended to and soon the cries for help turned into cries of pain and agony.

"Why you…" Sonic began then thought for a second. If he kept insulting this guy he would keep hurting Tails more. As much as he wanted to he couldn't insult him anymore.

"Apologize to me hedgehog." Karst demanded. Sonic couldn't believe he said that.

"Hell N-" Sonic was interrupted by the sound of splattering blood. "Tails!" Sonic shouted.

"I said apologize!" Karst demanded again.

"Err…I-I'm…sorry." Sonic said, obviously not really meaning it.

"Your sorry for what?" Karst said.

"I'm sorry for insulting you…and attacking you…Karst Ice."

"Good, now bow to me!" Karst demanded. Now he was going to far. But Sonic kept hearing more and more pain cries from Tails.

"SONIC!" Tails cried before he was slammed with another fist. Sonic was out of options. He had no choice. Sonic got on one knee and bowed to him.

"Now that's what I like to see. People following orders." Karst said while snapping his fingers. The guards stopped pounding Tails and walked over to Karst. "I'll leave you all alone for now." Karst said as he snapped his fingers again and the ice on Sonic's feet disappeared. The hedgehog immediately ran to his bleeding and barely conscious fox friend. "But I will be back." Karst said as he turned around to leave. Sonic growled at his direction then put his focus back on Tails.

"Oh and one more thing…welcome to Karst Island, SLAVES!" Karst finished then walked off.

_For those of you who didn't think Karst was mean before I bet this chapter changed your mind. If not well that's just you. Will try to update again soon. Review please._


	19. Chapter 19

_I've been gone for about a week I think. Oh well, I'm back and there is nothing you can do to stop it. That's just the way it works. Here's the next chapter._

**Chapter 18: The Fall of Karst Kingdom**

"Miss Rouge the Bat! Step forward to the council!" Shouted one of five men in very high seats. They sat and waited, and waited, and waited. "MISS ROUGE!!!" Shouted a very impatient man.

"Okay, I'm coming. Jeez! You G.U.N geeks really don't have much respect for a woman's natural ability to look beautiful before presenting herself in front of men do you?" Complained the thirteen-year-old bat as she strolled into the extremely dark room. In fact the only thing visible was two empty seats and the five council members in their high chairs. The councilmen ignored her and proceeded.

"Mr. Big the Cat! Step forward to the council!" Shouted the five men. It wasn't very long before he strolled in with his pet frog over his shoulder as well. The bat and cat took their seats in front of the council. Smokestack was also in the room but he wasn't very visible. However, being a bat, Rouge was able to use her sonar ability to see him and everything else in the room. It was basically one huge empty room.

"Now we may get started. Miss Rouge…" started one of the councilmen.

"Hi yah." She merely said.

"Don't 'hi yah' me! We are your superiors! Not only that but you're a jewel thief and we're G.U.N councilmen. We could arrest you if wish to." Said the angry council member.

"So why not do it already?" Rouge asked wondrously. The councilmen ignored her question and continued with the procedure.

"We understand that you are a jewel thief but we are willing to VI pass that fact in order to protect the nation. Our intelligence reports state that you are very cunning and smart witted. Am I correct."

"Hey, your talking to a jewel thief who leaves behind pictures of herself on cards and loves making silly faces at the security camera. Of course I'm cunning and witty." She laughed.

"Then we must ask you and your partner here a favor." Said the second councilman.

"Huh? A favor?" asked Rouge.

"What kind of favor?" Big asked intrigued by their conversation.

"We were wondering if you would join G.U.N and be a mercenary spy." Asked the third councilman. Both Rouge and Big sat there wide-eyed.

"A…a G.U.N mercenary spy agent…y-you're kidding right." Rouge was astounded. She was never easily surprised in the first place.

"Cool." Big merely said.

"So do you accept?" the fourth councilman asked toward Big. Big nodded violently. Froggy immediately croaked in excitement. When Big heard him croak he looked down at his chum and looked back at the councilman.

"Can Froggy be an agent too?" he asked.

"What? Of course not!" the fourth councilman shouted.

"Just let him join." Said the fifth councilman.

"But he's a mindless frog!" argued the fourth councilman.

"He seems to know what is going on and what we are talking about. That doesn't make him mindless in my book." Said the second councilmen.

"…Fine." The fourth one agreed.

"Then it's settled. Your frog can join as well." The first councilman said. Big and Froggy got of the seat and started to cheer.

"What of you miss Rouge?" asked the third councilman.

"…Do I still get to rob jewelry stores?" she asked.

"What you do outside the G.U.N army is none of our concern. Besides it's not like the army is going to rush to city because a small gem was stolen. The police will take care of that." Explained the first councilman. Rouge smirked knowing she could obviously handle the police.

"Okay you guys I accept." Rouge said.

"Good. Smokestack." The first councilman nudged toward Smoke. Smoke nodded and walked toward Rouge, Big and Froggy. He pulled two badges out from his pocket and gave them to them.

"Where is Froggy's badge." Big asked.

"You two can share the same one." Smoke said as emotionless as ever. Big nodded and accepted this.

"Your first mission will be assigned by me." Smoke said.

"We're having our first mission already? Can't we tighty up first?" Rouge asked.

"Tighty up from what? You haven't done anything. Besides you spent like 30 minutes in the bath alone then spent an extra 45 minutes doing something with your hair. Honestly, do all woman take that long to 'tighty up' in the bathroom?" Smoke asked.

"Well, not all woman…but most do. Hey, it's not a crime to want to look good." Rouge said. Smoke sighed then began to tell them their mission.

"Your first objective is to travel with me to a place called Magma Mill and steal a chaos emerald from a red generator. The next objective will be to send all of Sector B on a suicide attack mission on the palace that was built on Magma Mountain." Smoke explained.

"Our first mission is a suicide mission? Sounds like fun." Rouge smiled, as did Big and Froggy.

"We have no time to waste. I'll gather all of Sector B together and we'll be on our way at 13 hundred hours." Smoke said leaving the room.

"Thirteen hundred hours?" Big asked scratching his head.

"That's 1:00 pm tomorrow in army time. Since it's past Midnight we can't do the mission today. Now I can have some beauty sleep."

"Does that take a long time too?" Big asked.

"You know it." Rouge smirked.

_Back on Christmas Island or Karst Island_

Todd Banks and Yaupon went back inside after the scene they saw with Karst and Sonic. Sonic took Tails away because he knew Todd's messed up house was no place to get healthy. Todd and Yaupon had lost hope a long time ago so they didn't really think Sonic could do much to help them. And after they saw Sonic bow to Karst they were sure of it. Todd watched Yaupon walk to his room. Todd never once tried to assure Yaupon that it wasn't his fault his mother died. He just let him believe that without even caring if Yaupon was sad or not. He sometimes wondered if he still cared about his son but would always let the idea slide.

"Well, I guess I should get some sleep." Todd proceeded to walk to his bedroom when unexpectedly his phone rang. That was a sound he hadn't heard in a while.

Todd heard it ring again. He was a bit scared. No one ever called him because he never interacted with anyone after his wife died.

Another ring.

Maybe it was just a prank. Or maybe it was a death threat. He flinched at that thought but then realized it wasn't possible since interacted with no one. He barely talked to his son.

The phone began to ring again before Todd finally picked it up.

"Hello." He spoke into the phone.

"Hi, Todd. It's me, your favorite ruler." Said a familiar and heart stopping voice.

"K-Karst. What do you want?" He asked a bit taken a back.

"I'm planning an elimination attack on your town tonight so I want you to dress nice and be prepared to scream and run." Karst said.

"W-what? Why are you telling me this?" He wanted to know.

"Because, I know you don't care about any of those people anymore. Besides I bugged your house when I threw the brick though your window. It detached from the brick and is probably hovering right by you this second. Don't bother looking for it. It's too small to see with your underdeveloped naked eye."

"…"

"If you told anyone that thing would fly inside your head and shoot a huge hole in your brain. But, we all know you won't tell."

"…"

"But enough time wasting. The reason I called you is so you can send a massage out to the blue hedgehog and his fox friend."

"…I'm listening."

"I'm a bit worried you'll refuse."

"…I'll do anything you ask. Like you said I only care for myself."

"Good. Now then…I want you to kill your 4-year-old son!"

"…" Todd stood there not very shocked by the request but he was speechless. He hasn't really 'loved' his son in a long time. Todd barely considered Yaupon his son anymore. Why should he care if he died? After all he only cares for himself now.

"So, will you do it?" Karst asked.

"How will this send a message to Sonic?"

"Don't worry. He'll return here and find your dead son. I'll make sure of it. Now do we have a deal?"

"…Of course. I'll get right on it." Todd agreed.

_In Yaupon's room_

Yaupon sat on his floor and began crying. He hated it when he saw blood. It always reminded him of when he failed to safe his mother from dying. He spotted a small pottery cup on the floor. He immediately picked it up and held it close.

"I'm glad this is still okay." He said between sobs. Him and his mom made this together and it was basically the only thing he had left to remember her by. "I miss you mommy. Why? Why couldn't I save you?" He asked as his tears began to fall into the cup.

It was then that he heard a thump. It was so unexpected that it startled him, so much in fact that he accidentally dropped the cup onto the floor. It immediately shattered into pieces. Yaupon stared at it for a minute then began to burst out into loud uncontrollable tears.

"NO! Mommy! I broke her cup!" Yaupon gathered the pieces together and began to reshape it. The pieces weren't really small so it was easy to reshape it but he couldn't put it back together again. It slumped apart as soon as Yaupon put them together. Then he heard another thumb. It was louder this time.

"H-hello. D-daddy is that you?" Yaupon asked. The thumbing grew louder. Yaupon grabbed the pieces, stood up, and put them on his dresser. The thumbing was growing even louder. He was starting to get scared. His father never really came up to his room, not ever. He would always call him down if he needed him.

"D-daddy?" he asked again. The thumbing grew closer to his room. He then realized the thumbing was merely loud footsteps. Yaupon backed against the wall as a shadow made itself visible at the bottom crack of his door. The doorknob turned and opened. Yaupon WAS staring at his father.

"DADDY!" the silver hedgehog yelled as he ran toward his father. "Daddy, I broke it. I broke mommy's cup! I'm sorry!" He cried. His father unexpectedly did not yell at him for crying. Instead he bent down and gave him a hug. Yaupon looked out into space clearly surprised. It has been a long time since he was given a hug by anybody. He took advantage of it by hugging him back.

"It's okay Yaupon." Todd assured.

"_Sniff'_ Are you sure?" Yaupon asked.

"I'm sure."

"Okay daddy."

"…Hey Yaupon."

"Yeah."

"…Goodbye."

"Goodbye? Are you leaving?" Yaupon asked before he felt a searing pain in his back. He didn't know what had just happened until he felt pain grow worse. Blood began to seep out of Yaupon's mouth.

His father had just stabbed Yaupon in the back with a knife.

"No I'm not leaving. But you are…forever." His father stated. Yaupon didn't answer. His eyes were wide open but they showed no signs of life.

"…Daddy… I said I was sorry… for breaking the cup …" His body went limb and the pain stopped.

"… Like I care." Todd stated as his now dead son hit the floor.

_Back at Antiguan's hotel_

Sonic had gotten back to Antiguan's hotel a few minutes after the ordeal with Karst. Antiguan was fixing the poor sleeping fox some soup while Sonic tended to his wounds on the couch. The blue hedgehog then noticed Tails start to move. Sonic smiled and saw his little buddy open his eyes toward him.

"Tails? You alright buddy?" Sonic asked.

"…Sonic…why…why am I always the one getting hurt. I've been beat up all my life and even after I met you I'm still being hurt more…maybe the whole world does hate me…I'm worth-" Tails began.

"What did I tell you about saying you were worthless!?" Sonic shouted.

"…" Tails didn't answer.

"Well!"

"…To not say I'm worthless." Tails finally answered back.

"That's right. Your not worthless Tails. We made a pact to each other that none of us would say the other or themselves were worthless."

"No we didn't." Tails corrected.

"Well we are now." Sonic informed. Tails smiled then felt a small pain in his arm.

"Sonic…my arm…it hurts." Tails flinched. Sonic checked both arms and saw a huge gash on his left one. He was going to apply some of the alcohol medicine on it but then surprisingly, the gash disappeared.

"W-what the?" Sonic saw it but couldn't believe it. That's when he remembered Tails' kitsune self. It was still a huge factor that they needed to find out. Sonic saw that Tails stopped wincing in pain and started to relax.

"That's right, just relax buddy. I'll get you some soup." Sonic said as he raced to Antiguan who was in the kitchen. As soon as Sonic got in there he went to Antiguan's back and tapped his shoulder. The brown hedgehog didn't turn around.

"Antiguan? Hello. You there buddy?" Sonic walked around his body and saw the horrible thing Antiguan was looking at.

There on the wall, written in blood was a message: _Yaupon is gone and soon you will all be, tonight! Love karst._

Sonic and Antiguan stared at the spine chilling message and kept reading it over and over again. Sonic was a little shaken by the way the message was presented to them. They had no idea how it got there. They had no idea when it was written. They didn't even know whose blood that was. Eventually Sonic broke the silence.

"…Yaupon…dead? C-could he mean…" Sonic started before he saw Antiguan shaking his head. "Oh no!" Sonic ran out of the kitchen and out the front door leaving a cold breeze of wind to smack the relaxing fox.

"Sonic? Where are you going?" Tails asked as he got up. He got no answer for Sonic was already gone. Tails hopped off the couch and ran out the door. It was a little weird that he could run after the beating he had earlier but Tails dismissed the thought. He needed to find out what was wrong.

_At Todd's house_

Sonic rushed into the cracked and worn old house and started looking everywhere for Yaupon or Todd. He looked in the living room, the kitchen, and the bathrooms before going up stairs. Sonic searched all the bedrooms until there was only one left to search. The blue hedgehog knew this had to be it. His heart thumped at the thought of what might lie behind this door. He reached for the knob, grabbed it, and turned slowly. As soon as the door was open he was greeted with the unwelcoming scene of a 4-year-old hedgehog's corpse on the ground.

"…Yaupon…" Sonic mumbled as he knelt down to look at his body. He searched his body and found a huge hole in his back, obviously made from being stabbed. Sonic couldn't believe it. Who would do something so cruel to an innocent 4-year-old with a crushed spirit?

"W-what happened to him?" asked a scared voice from behind. Sonic turned around and saw the frightened look on his little two-tailed buddy's face.

"He's…he's gone Tails…" Sonic said while picking up the corpse. This was a little too much for a little kid like Tails to take in so quickly. Actually, everything they were going through was too much for him. The fox had been introduced to so much death since he met Sonic. Tails started to wonder if his life would ever pick up. It was then that Sonic grabbed Tails arm and they left in a flash.

_Inside the hotel_

"So it was true. Does this mean Karst is going to get rid of all of us?" asked Antiguan as he and many others stared at the silver hedgehog's lifeless body. Sonic stood there tapping his fingers on the table frustratingly. He couldn't allow what Karst was going to do to happen. However, he beat Sonic so easily. How could he fight back?

"Sonic…" Tails began. Sonic turned to his fox friend.

"Yeah buddy?" Sonic asked.

"I have an idea…"

"What is it?"

"I could… I could sneak inside the castle and…"

"No. No way am I putting you in harms way."

"Listen to what the kid has to say Sonic." Antiguan said from behind. Sonic turned to see his tall buddy with the most serious look he had on his face since they got here.

"… Okay. What's your plane Tails?" Sonic asked not wanting to start an argument with Antiguan at this moment.

"Is this going to be a complicated plan? My brain gets all messed up when I hear really big words." Knuckles asked. Tails ignored the echidna and began telling them his plan. When he was done they all stared at him with blank faces.

"T-that's just plain suicide Tails! You can't do that!" Sonic shouted.

"I gotta try Sonic. You and Knuckles are the only ones tough enough to take down that much robots at a time. Plus if I go alone I can navigate more freely. It will work. Don't you trust me?" Tails asked in a pleading voice. Sonic stared down at the fox feeling a bit awkward. Eventually Sonic sighed and answered the fox.

"Yeah, I trust you. You do your thing and I'll do mine. Amy!" Sonic shouted the pink hedgehog across the room. Amy immediately lifted her heard off the couch she was lying on and looked over at Sonic.

"Yes Sonic." She asked.

"I need you to take Tails to Karst's palace, use your hammer to make a huge hole in the wall, and let Tails take it from there. Once you've done that meet us back down here." Sonic explained.

"Don't worry, you can count on me." Amy assured. Sonic then turned to Tails and put his hands on the fox's shoulders.

"I'm counting on you too buddy." Sonic said. Tails smiled and made a salute with his hand.

"I promise I won't let you down!" The fox said.

_10 minutes later_

Karst and his troops all marched toward the small town in threes. It was time to carry out Eggman's will. He was going to capture the fox and kill that pesky blue hedgehog once and for all. The ice themed half-robot glided over the air on a small hovering platform and looked down at all his troops. Seeing them march equally and harmonically made him feel even more giddy and hot headed then before.

"This is fantastic! I've always wanted to be the one to make a negative difference in everyone's life. Not only did I do that but…" Karst pulled out his mirror staff and looked at himself. "…I'm incredibly handsome too."

Eventually the troops made it to the town, completely overlooking the pink hedgehog and the two tailed fox sneaking behind the trees, and they all lined up in front of the citizen's homes. Karst landed his platform and looked onward.

"Citizens of Karst Island, heed me at once!" Karst shouted. No one answered. No one even showed up. This got Karst angry. "I said get out here at once!" Still no answer. "That's it! As ruler of Karst Island I demand for you to come out!"

"Oh shut up your vapor venting hunk of steam driven crap!" Shouted a familiar voice.

"What? Who dares…" Karst began.

"I dares!" Sonic all of a sudden fell out of the sky in his ball form and slammed Karst on the head. This caused him to fall forward but he didn't hit the ground however. Sonic ricocheted off Karst's head and began doing fast and vicious homing attacks against all of the guards. After he hit and destroyed 12 of them he landed back on his feet in front of Karst. The half-robot looked really pissed off.

"You…irritating blue rodent!" Karst said as stood up straight and held out his mirror staff. "You've got some nerve taking me on like that. Too bad your weak attack did me no damage. My ice is HARD son!"

"Blah, blah, I just wish you had the balls to stop gloating and face me like a real man!" Sonic shouted.

"Isn't 1 against…10 thousand a bit unfair." Karst stopped to do a speed count during that sentence.

"I think we can mange." Sonic answered back.

"We?" Karst asked. All of a sudden numerous full-bodied men flew out of the ground. "What the?" Before Karst could do anything else they all landed a huge punch at the half-robot's face. The force sent Karst backwards and made him slam into and destroy a few of his guards.

"Man, how I've always wanted to do that!" Shouted one of the men. Suddenly a huge metal tentacle lashed out at the man who said that and struck him hard across the face. Everyone else watched in amazement as the clearly surprised man flew into a building leaving a small trail of blood behind him.

"Ha! Like you'll ever get the chance to do it again! Now my servants! Destroy them all!" Karst yelled. The robots all held out their guns while Sonic, Knuckles, Antiguan, and the others all got into a fighting stance.

"Charge!" Antiguan shouted.

_Meanwhile in the castle_

Tails ran through the halls trying to find his way to what might be the center of the palace. When he and Amy showed up here they were both surprised at how big it was. The fox knew it would be impossible to find a lost sock in this place.

"Aw man! If I only had a map I could find this place's center point. Maybe I wasn't cut out for this. Maybe I should go back…" Tails began then remembered the last words Sonic said to him before the plan was executed.

'_I'm counting on you too buddy.' _

'_I promise I won't let you down!'_

"…No! I promised Sonic that I wouldn't let him down!" Tails ran around a corner and found himself in prison area. There were cells everywhere. In each one there was a skeleton either hanging by chains on the wall or just lying there frighteningly on the ground. Tails grew a bit freaked out but kept going.

He then passed a cell that he could have sworn he saw something blue in there. The fox trailed backward a few steps until he met the cell door he saw. In the cell were two hedgehogs. One was male and one was a female. They looked like they hadn't had a decent meal in months. The two were cuddled together and seemed to be crying.

Tails didn't know what to make of this scene. He wondered who these people were. That's when he remembered the reason Sonic wanted to come here in the first place. The fox thought for another moment then decided to speak to them.

"E-excuse me." Tails began. The two blue hedgehogs's flinched and turned to face Tails.

"Y-yes, who are you." Asked the male hedgehog.

"Are…are you Sonic's mom and dad?" Tails hesitated. The hedgehog's eyes widened as they slowly got off the ground and walked toward the cell door.

"Why… yes. Do you know are son?" asked the male. Tails nodded.

"Please, can you get us out of here?" The female asked. Tails nodded and began to think. These people were Sonic's parents. They didn't sound like they were in any eternal suffering however. They sounded normal. Tails also noticed that they sounded equally sad. He wondered how this could be but decided to let them go first. He would ask questions later.

_Back at the town_

The huge fight had scattered all across the island. Many citizens and robots were in town, others were in the forest, and a few more were near the mountains. Everyone fought persistently and valiantly. They even thought it was sort of fun taking down these mindless bots.

Sonic raced around the town with many robots following him. As soon as he turned a corner another robot burst through the wall of a building by his side and he had to make an unexpected turn or jump. Maneuvering like this was fun but if he kept it up the town would most likely be destroyed. It was a good thing he was almost at his destination.

Sonic ran toward a building and stopped in front of it. He then turned around to see the bots coming his way. They all stopped in front of him and pointed their guns at the hedgehog. All Sonic did was point up. The robots looked up and saw numerous children with water balloons in their hands.

"Take this you mean robots!" The kids then all started to pelt the robots with water balloons. Their water seeped into their metal and fried their circuits. Once that happened Sonic took them all out with a homing attack. Once they were destroyed he gave the kids a thumbs up and they all gave one back.

_At the mountain area_

The robots had all followed the large men and a red echidna to the side of a mountain but found nothing.

"Hey ice boxes! Up here!" Knuckles shouted. The robots looked up and saw the echidna, Antiguan, and many other buff men behind a certain boulder. The robots all had anime sweat drops. "PUSH!" Knuckles shouted. As soon as he said that they all pushed the boulders down the mountain and created a huge rockslide. The robots turned to run but were already crushed when they lifted their feet.

"HA, HA, HA, HA! That will show them!" Antiguan laughed.

_Over the island_

Karst looked down at his robot soldiers in disbelief. They were losing. Neither Karst nor followers of him ever lose! This was impossible!

"Arrgh! You big wimps!" Karst then heard a very faint ticking sound. Since he had super sonic hearing he could make it out. "A-a bomb? Coming from…my palace!"

_Inside the palace_

Tails set the time bomb for 60 seconds. It was the highest set time bomb Antiguan could find. Immediately when he did he and Sonic's parents ran toward the exit, or what they thought was the exit.

"Are we going the right way?" Tails asked Sonic's dad.

"I'm not sure actually. We've been locked up for so long we kind of forgot what anything outside our cell looked like." He said a bit worried. Tails gulped. If they couldn't find their way out then…

_44 seconds remaining_

Karst flew toward his palace in fear. If what he thought was happening was indeed taking place then he'd be in big trouble.

_36 seconds remaining_

Tails was starting to panic. They were clearly running in circles. None of them knew how they got in and worse how to get out. According to Tails' head count their was 28 seconds left. They continued to round corners but to no avail. Why'd this place have to be so big!

_16 seconds remaining_

Karst flew up toward his palace until he was flying directly over it.

"No one's destroying my palace!" he shouted as he flew toward the roof.

7 seconds remaining

Something tense began to form in Tails' stomach. He has had this feeling before but he didn't know when. Suddenly he saw his fur turn a blackish color.

"W-what's…what's going on?" He asked himself.

_3 seconds remaining_

Karst was only a few feet away when the ticking suddenly stopped.

"…Uh oh." Karst mumbled. Suddenly the palace exploded getting everyone's attention. Sonic, Knuckles, Antiguan, and everyone else looked in the palaces' direction. The magnitude of the explosion sent Karst off his hovering platform and down into the forest. He hit the ground with a thud so hard that the light blue chaos emerald in his arm fell out and landed on the grass. He reached for it but saw a gloved hand pick it up first. He looked up and saw a smirking pink hedgehog.

"Hey there. Is this what you want?" She said holding out both the chaos emerald and her hammer. Karst growled, crawled toward his hover platform and flew back into the air.

"This isn't the end! I'll be back!" With that he took off. Amy watched him go then turned back to the castle. Suddenly a blue gust of wind went by her and ran toward it. She knew it was a worried Sonic.

Sonic stopped in front of the castle and stared at it in horror.

"TAILS!" he shouted in a fearful voice. No one answered back however.

_I'm so sorry I haven't updated in a while. School and homework and projects every week were starting too...you know pile up. But I will try to update as soon as I can next time._


	20. Chapter 20

_Here is another chapter of my great Tails related story. Just like before, you read, you review, and I make more chapters till the story is done._

**Chapter 19: Mission to Magma Mill**

"Tails! Where are you buddy! Answer me!" Sonic shouted. He wasn't getting any answer but he knew Tails could hear him somehow. The burning palace crumbled toward the ground leaving a pile of ashes behind. He couldn't see beyond the smoke but something told him Tails was there.

"Sonic I…" Amy began before the blue hedgehog interrupted her.

"Hey do you see that!" Sonic was staring at the palace. It was engulfed with a large purple aurora. The once red and orange flames all turned violet. Soon a huge purple gas started to fill the air. It spread outward and surrounded the entire town. Everywhere it went it started to heal wounded bodies. Everyone was getting his or her strength back from the mist.

"Whoa, would you look at that." Knuckles said staring at the aurora around his body. He was gaining more strength just like everyone else. The gas even spread into the hotel where Yaupon's corpse was. His body managed to suck in some of the gas as well. About a minute after his body sucked it in Yaupon opened his eyes and leaned up.

"W-what…what happened…where am I…" The silver hedgehog got off the table and headed out the door to see everyone outside standing in some kind of purple mist.

"Where is all this gas coming from?" Sonic asked.

"Sonic look!" Amy pointed to the palace. Sonic watched as he saw the kitsune form of his friend arise out of the rubble and now violet colored ashes. There on his back were two familiar looking hedgehogs. Tails stepped out of the ashes a stepped toward Sonic. The blue hedgehog just stared at his black furred fox friend in amazement. It was then that Tails' fur turned orange again and the fox fell to the ground. The two hedgehogs's stood up and helped Tails up.

"Are you okay sweetie?" The female hedgehog asked. Tails nodded slowly then they all turned to Sonic. The three blue hedgehogs just stared at each other for what seemed like forever until Sonic finally said something.

"…M-m-mom? D-dad…?" Sonic stuttered. All his parents did was smile at their blue son. "MOM! DAD!" Sonic ran toward them and gave them a hug with enough force to cause both of them to fall to the ground. They all stood their ground however. His parents hugged Sonic back and began tearing up. Everyone could tell they were all very happy.

"Awwwwww. Look how happy Sonic is." Amy cooed.

"Yeah that's nice. Hey, since the bad guy is gone don't you think we should leave too?" Knuckles suggested.

"Oh just let them have their moment Knuckles." Amy said.

"Sure…whatever." Knuckles answered back clearly uninterested in the scene.

"Come on Knuckles don't you have any sympathy." Asked Antiguan.

"Yeah, sympathy for things that are mine." The echidna informed.

"Um…excuse me…" came a voice from behind. Everyone turned around to face the person who said that even Sonic and his two battered parents.

"Impossible…it's…it's you." Antiguan said clearly amazed. They were all staring at the now alive and well face of Yaupon the Hedgehog.

"Y-Yaupon?" Sonic asked a bit confused.

"AHHHHHH! GHOST!" Tails shouted as he hid behind Sonic.

"Wha? I'm not a ghost…at least I think I'm not…" Yaupon said confused as well. He still remembered being stabbed by his father and he was sure he would die from it. This was all very strange indeed.

"I don't get it…how is he…" Sonic began then almost immediately remembered the purple mist. _'It must've made it's way into the hotel and brought him back to life. So positive things can come from this kitsune form of his. Maybe there IS a way to turn him into a good kitsune.' _Sonic thought.

"So if Yaupon's not a ghost…then he's alive?" Tails asked.

"Yeah…he is." Sonic answered.

"…Oh…where'd did the guy who killed him go?" Tails wondered.

_In the skies overhead_

Karst was almost 2 miles away from that island when he saw a small yet far off ship. Karst boosted up his ride's engines and shot toward it. When he did he stopped by the window and looked inside.

"Well hello Todd." Karst said.

"…What do you want?" Todd asked scarcely.

"I need a ride so I'm stealing yours." Karst informed.

"…What? Hell no!" Todd was about to grab the boost and rocket out of sight but then he stopped. Something made him stop. Todd had a huge blank expression on his face and his hands began to limb from the controls.

"Oh don't tell me that you forgot about the little bug I put on you. I guess when it heard you mouthing off to me it made its way into your brain and blew a big hole through it. Painful huh?" Karst asked and smiled at the now lifeless body of Todd banks. He saw the ship nearing the water and thought it was time to take control. He blew open the window, shoved out the corpse into the water, and took control of the ship in order to fly it right again.

"Man I love me." Karsts took out his mirror staff and put the ship in autopilot so he could bask in his own glory and tell himself how pretty he looked. "Now this is a face everyone could and WILL love. HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

_At Eggman's base a day later_

Metal Sonic fumbled through Dr. Eggman's records and files but couldn't find anything of importance to him. Suddenly he heard a voice in his head.

'_What is taking so long! Do you have the file or not?'_ shouted the voice in his head.

"No! But I assure you I will find it no matter what it takes. Eggman must have it hidden in a different location but I have no clue where…hold on!" Metal turned toward the control room on the ship and headed for it. He opened the door and saw Eggman asleep on his chair, Bocoe and Decoe sleeping in their own chairs, and Bokkunn sleeping on Eggman's desk.

"Now to find that file." Metal Sonic sneaked up to the desk drawer and pulled it open. There were only two files in there. He pulled the first one out and began reading.

'_Well? What does it say?'_ The voice asked.

"It says something about a homeless two-tailed brat living on Westside Island. It says here he is 4-year-old and is constantly bullied by a jaguar named Hang Nail, a monkey named Slips, and a panther named Silt. It also has information on some guy named Bear Mayor."

'_It does?! Quickly read the file.'_

"It says here Bear Mayor was a half robot half bear civilian who made a deal with Eggman. It says he teamed up with some guy named SmokeStack and killed off the Two-tailed fox's parents. For what reason I'm not sure and this file doesn't make it that clear either. Should I read on?"

'_Yes.'_

"Okay. It also says Bear Mayor made illegal shipping's of money across Mobius that not only disrupted the community but violated some deal him and SmokeStack had."

_'And?'_

"It says SmokeStack killed Bear Mayor for it later. That's it."

'_Damn! Check the other file.' _Commanded the voice. Metal Sonic did so.

"It is a computer chip." Metal Sonic held it in his hand. All of a sudden a huge image burst out of the chip and projected what looked like to be a journal entry. Metal Sonic began reading it carefully.

It read: _"HOHOHOHOHOHO! I can't believe how easy it was. Tricking those three loons so easily. I got them all to believe that the kitsune form could be activated at full blast at anytime. What fools!_

_Can you believe the real truth is that the correct coordinates are set throughout the entire kitsune timeline? Darkness, SmokeStack, and Bear Mayor all thought that the kitsune form was unstable and could be activated at anytime but I knew better. I knew there had to be a certain sequence that followed throughout time and caused a certain fox to become a kitsune._

_If I recall my intelligence reports stated that the very item responsible for creating the first kitsune over 5000 years ago was known as the 'Seal of Heaven'. The Seal of Heaven is a very powerful yet very tricky device used by ancient civilians to have any problem undone with a small touch of the hand. However, it was a very hard tool to use and it took careful procession to operate it correctly. For if it was used the wrong way the results could be catastrophic. _

_HOHOHOHOHOHO! It does my heart good to see something like that take place. Apparently something catastrophic did happen and it created the first kitsune. What happened I'm unsure of but it really doesn't matter to me. After the first kitsune was created it went on a rampage and destroyed millions of lives. Soon it was sealed away inside the very body of the person who began the kitsune. After it was sealed the person was killed but it was said that the kitsune power did not go away. Instead it made it's way toward the victim's apparent son._

_This boy did not become a kitsune however. The timeline of the Seal of Heaven would be ruined if he did. I figured out that the way for a kitsune to form was a very carefully executed cycle. The locations where a kitsune was formed went around Mobius in a complete circle. It deliberately followed the exact shape of the Seal of Heaven. A Circle!_

_The planet was a globe but from a far off view it looked like a circle. The same goes for the Seal of Heaven. The top of the Seal of Heaven, which is also the top of Mobius, is known as 'Coordinates 000'. Coordinates 000 are the exact location the first kitsune was formed. Normally the North Pole would be there however due to the fact that Coordinates 000 was formed 5000 years ago it must have been very hot there. Today Coordinates 000 has rotated with the planet. It is now located near some wasteland. The side of the Seal of Heaven is Coordinates 050 (1). This is Mobius' side, which is now at the North Pole. This was where the Second Kitsune was formed._

_The next coordinates are Coordinates 100. The Third one was formed here. The next was Coordinates 050 (2). The Fourth formed here. Now we're heading back to Coordinates 000 where the strongest and most ruthless kitsune will be formed to date. That one will be the very special child known as…_

_Miles Tails Prower. _

_HOHOHOHOHHOHO!"_

Metal Sonic put the chip back in the file and put the file back into the drawer and shut it.

"Did you hear all that?" Metal Sonic asked.

'_Yes. I think I know what he's planning now. Make sure you keep an eye out for him Metal.' _The voice warned.

"Yes…Commander Darkness."

"Commander who?" asked the now awake Dr. Eggman. Metal flinched then turned around to face the doctor.

"Uh…Commander Eggman. I was trying to wake you up so I could tell you…that…um…" Metal was trying his hardest to make something up.

"Don't worry about it. We both know you'd never betray me. Isn't that right Bokkunn." Eggman said turning to also awake messenger boy.

"What! Are you kidding? We both know if he ever got a hold of any of your secrets he'd skip ship in a flash." Bokkunn said angrily.

"Don't mind him he's just cranky." Eggman stated. "So how about you go get me some hot chocolate with extra sugar, extra cream, extra sugar, and drop an raw egg in the cup as well." Eggman ordered then pushed the robot away. _'I know he gave my files away to Darkness but I can't risk saying anything for fear of having my head gunned off by Metal and his superior weapons. I'll just have to play it cool for a while.'_

"I'm telling you doctor that robot is betraying you." Bokkunn warned.

"Oh I know." Eggman said.

"YOU KNOW!" Both Bocoe and Decoe shouted over hearing the conversation a soon as they woke up.

"Yup." Eggman said almost laughing.

"Then why are you letting him do it?" Bocoe asked.

"Because…it's fun to give them hope then crush it when they least expect it." Eggman said sitting in his chair by the computer monitor.

"Oh." The two robots and Bokkunn both said completely understanding.

"Now shall we get back to business? How well did Karst do on disposing of Sonic and bringing Tails to me?" Eggman asked.

"I can answer that sir." Came a voice from behind. Eggman and the other three turned around to see Igneous Rock pushing Karst Ice toward Eggman. "Go ahead and tell him of your magnificent victory Karst or should I tell him." Igneous smiled.

"I can handle it." Karst growled at the bulky robot.

"What happened?" Eggman asked.

"Well you see I sort of had a chance to take the fox and kill the hedgehog but…"

"He decided to have fun with them and made Sonic bow down to him instead of you master." Igneous blurted out.

"WHAT! Bow to you! They should only be bowing to me!" Eggman yelled.

"That's what I thought too." Said a very excited Igneous.

"Oh shut up tin for brains! It's not like you did any better!" Karst shouted.

"Oh no! Well lets observe exhibit A." Igneous held up Karst's arm and pointed to the broken glass case on it. "You see! His chaos emerald is gone!" Igneous then held up his arm and showed Eggman his green chaos emerald still in the cracked but still operational case. "And mine is still in my arm."

"You lost the chaos emerald as well! Tell me, who took it from you?" Eggman asked.

"Uhhhhh…" Karst stuttered.

"Knowing how INCOMPETANT Karst is he probably lost it to a little girl." Igneous said.

"Well…I sort of..." Karst began.

"SERIOUSLY! You lost it to a little girl! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Igneous fell to the floor laughing.

"Hey! She had a HUGE mallet in her hands!" Karst shouted.

"ENOUGH! You both failed miserably. Now it's time to see which commander will step up to the plate." Eggman said trying to think.

"Something wrong doctor?" Decoe asked.

"Yes! I can't decide! Bocoe! Decoe! Bring out my new toy!" Eggman shouted. The two robots got up, left the room and came back with what looked like to be a slot machine. Decoe then gave Eggman a stack of cards.

"There you are doctor. Half of these cards have a picture of the third robot commander…" Decoe began.

"…And half of them have a picture of the fourth/ last commander on it." Bocoe finished.

"A 50/50 chance. I like that." Eggman put the cards in the small case, shut it, and pulled the lever. Soon three pictures of a red half robot commander appeared on the three slides.

"Yes! He's the one! The third commander, Combustion Fire!" Eggman shouted.

"Combustion? You mean that greedy bitch!" Igneous yelled.

"The very same. Bokkunn! I have a mission for you." Eggman said.

"Uhhhhh sure, anything you need doctor." Bokkunn said.

"I need you to send a message to Sonic and Tails telling them what their next objective is."

_Back on Karst…err I mean Christmas Island_

Tails woke up in a somewhat wet bed again but it was thankfully more dry than wet this time. The fact that it was mostly dry did not make him feel better though. He wondered if he was beginning to develop a bedwetting problem because of these nightmares. That same nightmare just wouldn't go away. He still didn't understand it either. What does it mean?

"Tails?" came a voice from the side of the bed.

"SONIC!" Tails was completely startled. He didn't see the hedgehog come in.

"You alright?" Sonic asked.

"Yeah…I think I had another accident but it wasn't a big one like last time." Tails informed.

"Oh you did huh?" Sonic said pulling the blanket away to see the dry wet spot on the bed.

"I'm sorry…I bet you think I'm a big baby." Tails moaned.

"What? No way. I told you it happens. It's happened to me and it's happened to everyone else."

"Yeah but I did it two nights in a row." Tails said.

"So did I once." Sonic assured.

"Y-you did?"

"Yup. I had this weird dream that I desperately needed to go to the bathroom and I made it there just in time. Then I woke up in a soaked bed." Sonic explained. Tails couldn't help but laugh.

"That's funny." Tails admitted.

"Yeah. I hate irony sometimes. So was it that same dream that caused this to happen?" Sonic asked. Tails nodded. _'Hmm, man that's strange. What does that dream mean damn it?'_

"Hey Sonic! You coming outside so we can leave?" Knuckles asked as he poked his head into the room.

"We're coming, don't worry!" Sonic yelled back then turned to his fox friend. "Look lets put this sheet in the washer for Antiguan then go and meet everyone for the farewells, alright." Sonic suggested. Tails nodded then pulled off the sheet.

_Outside _

Everyone gathered around to say their goodbyes to their favorite hedgehog and their new fox friend. Knuckles and Amy were preparing a new ship given to them by Antiguan for travel. Yaupon had been adopted by Antiguan as well. He had always wanted to be a dad. His first act of fatherhood was to fix the silver hedgehog's broken cup he made with his mother. Yaupon was happy again for the first time in years.

Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy stood in front of all the towns' people and prepared to leave. Sonic stepped toward his parents and smiled.

"Mom. Dad. Take care of yourselves please." Sonic said.

"Don't worry Son we will." Sonic's dad informed.

"You take care as well and make sure to keep your little brother safe." Sonic's mom said.

"W-what? Y-you are gonna consider me as Sonic's brother?" Tails asked surprised.

"Of course. We absolutely love the idea of having another son to watch over." Sonic father said patting Tails' head. Tails grew excited. He actually has a family! Two parents and a cool big brother! Finally his prayers have been answered.

"Can we get in the ship and leave to where ever we're going now?" Knuckles said impatiently.

"Sure, next stop is Eggman's fortress…" Sonic began.

"Oh no it's not!" Shouted a voice from above. They all looked up and saw Bokkunn flying toward them.

"B-Bokkunn? I haven't seen you since the pie incident." Sonic said.

"I'm still not forgiving you for that. Anyway, Dr. Eggman has a very important message for you." Bokkunn landed, opened his sack, and pulled out a small T.V. He then gave it to Sonic and turned it on. In a flash Eggman's face appeared on screen.

"Listen Sonic don't even think about coming to my base because you will never be able to find it. I heard from a reliable source that you already defeated my first two commanders. Since you did I thought it would be fun if you defeated the other two as well. The next commander you'll be facing is known as Combustion Fire. He lives in a palace at Magma Mill. I dare you to go there. HAHAHAHAHA!"

"And I dare you to actually find a girlfriend and be able to stay with her for more then 2 seconds." Sonic joked.

"And I'm sure you just made some smart remark but what you didn't know is that the time you fell out of your shoes while you were destroying my lab I was the one who put inching powder in them. HAHAHAHAHAHA!" Eggman laughed.

"What! Why you son of a-" Sonic began before the T.V immediately self-destructed in Sonic's face. Bokkunn then flew away laughing. Sonic growled then wiped the black dust off his face. Tails also was covered in it as well since he was standing right by the hedgehog. Tails shook the dust off then turned to Sonic.

"Sonic who was that?" Tails asked referring to Bokkunn.

"A very annoying half robot half regular bratty kid that had his skin bleached black because of an accident that happened when he was young but nevermind him. We need to get to this Magma Mill right away. Come on guys." Sonic said.

"Hold on. I think I have an idea. Maybe only you and Tails should go while me and Amy collect data on the whereabouts of Eggman's base. It would be much easier for us all if we spit up." Knuckles suggested.

"NO WAY! I'm not going to separate from my Sonic again." Amy shouted.

"Well either you do and go with me or you stay all by yourself and be alone again." Knuckles grunted. Amy pouted then thought for a second.

"Okay fine. Antiguan do you have another ship?" Amy asked.

"Sure I do." He said as he ran to go get it.

_A few minutes later_

Sonic and Tails got into their ship and Knuckles and Amy got in theirs. As soon as Tails was buckled in Sonic strapped himself in and closed the hatch. Knuckles and Amy closed their hatch as well then took off. Sonic and Tails took a few moments to wave back to the crowd then they were off. They lifted in the air and shot across the sky toward their next destination.

_At the G.U.N base_

Rouge's alarm clock went off loudly and abruptly. Rouge didn't bother with it. She figured if she focused hard enough the sound would go away. It didn't. It wasn't long before Rouge just slammed her fist down on the clock and destroyed it.

"The alarm clock wasn't just put there to make noise you know. It was put there so you could wake up." Smoke said at the side of the bed.

"Well then they should fire the idiot that invented them. Waking up early is so overrated." Rouge said.

"It's 12:30 in the afternoon." Smoke informed.

"Damn. I can't believe it's that early." Rouge moaned.

"Wake up!" Smoke shouted.

"Okay, okay, I'm up." Rouge got off the bed and stood up in her purple pajamas in order to stretch. Once she did she went to the bathroom, took her bath, then put on her regular clothes. Once she was ready she made her way toward the airplane deck where Big was already waiting for her.

"Hey your up." Big said.

"Ribbit." Froggy said too.

"Sure am. So where are all the other G.U.N soldiers going on this mission?" Rouge asked.

"They're over there." Big pointed to a large group of G.U.N soldiers who looked incredibly pissed at Rouge for holding them all up.

"What are they all angry about?" Rouge asked already knowing.

"Alright men it's almost time to go on our suicide mission." Smoke said as he entered the room. "We will all be heading out toward a place called Magma Mill in order to seek out a red chaos emerald found in the main generator of the area. Our opponents on this mission will be a huge fiery kingdom filled with millions of robot soldiers, a dictator known as Combustion Fire, and possibly the two brats known as Sonic and Tails. Any questions?" Smoke asked. Big raised his hand. "Yes Big."

"Can we bring snacks?" He asked.

"_Sigh'_ Yes. Anyone else?" Smoke asked. Rouge raised her hand.

"Can we bring along portable powder rooms? I don't use them I just think they're nice accessories." Rouge asked.

"No." Smoke said.

"Fine. Don't blame me when you all get laughed at for not having any glammer in your quadrant." Rouge said.

"Anyone else?" Smoke asked. Rouge raised her hand again. "What do you want now?" He asked impatiently.

"If a chicken had lips…could it whistle?" Rouge asked.

"…"

"I'm serious. I really want to know."

"…"

_Back with Sonic and Tails_

Sonic had put the ship on autopilot since they were just heading forward. He thought it might be fun to play a little game with his brother. It was Tails turn to pick they game and he picked I spy.

"Okay…I spy something…spiky." Tails said.

"Me." Sonic answered.

"Aw man. Okay, I spy something with green eyes…"

"Me."

"Shoot! Okay, I spy something dark blue…"

"Me."

"Darn it!"

"And the next ones' just a guess. Me."

"Whoa! That's creepy!" Tails said amazed. Suddenly the ship began to rumble. Sonic sensed danger right away. He took the plane out of autopilot then began steering again.

"What the hell is happening?" Sonic soon saw the clouds turn dark red. Both Sonic and Tails' eyes widened with amazement. They were almost there but didn't know it. Suddenly a large red tornado fell from the sky.

"SONIC! I don't think that's a good thing!" Tails shouted.

"Me too buddy!" Sonic grabbed the steering controls then tried turning around. The tornado slammed into the water and began to spin wildly.

"Sonic! What's happening!?" Tails asked a bit scared.

"I don't know. Usually Tornadoes just don't fall out of the sky without signals it was going to happen. Plus I'm damn sure I know they're not red!" Sonic shouted. They're ship was drawing closer toward the tornado even though Sonic was trying to fly from it.

"Come on Sonic! Can't you get away?" Tails asked.

"I'm trying buddy. The wind is too strong!" Sonic pushed forward even though his efforts seemed pointless. They were drawing nearer and nearer toward the thing without any hope of escape. Suddenly the ship just gave in and flew toward it at high speed.

"SONIC! I'M SCARED!" Tails was crying now as he held onto Sonic. Sonic held the fox as well in slight fear as well.

"Hang on buddy! We'll make it out all right! I hope!" Sonic said as they neared the now red sky. As soon as they were in the air the tornado disappeared and the sea when back to it's original calmness. It was as if nothing had happened.

_There you all are. Hope you liked it. Like I say everytime I will update again. Reviews please!_


	21. Chapter 21

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. School is a bitch. Homework is even bitchier. Here you guys are.

**Chapter 20: Fiery Metal Combustion**

Bang.

"…Ugh…what happened?

Bang!

"What's that sound?"

BAM!

"Whoa! What's happening?" Tails asked completely confused. Just then he looked out the window of the cockpit of the ship they were in and saw many red medalled robot blasting at him.

BAM! BAM! BAM! As the shots were fired more turbulence over took the grounded vessel.

"Sonic! Where are you!?" Tails looked aimlessly around the cockpit for Sonic put didn't find a sign of his hero. The confused and still a bit dazed fox looked at the side of the ship and spotted a huge gapping hole torn through the solid steel of the ship. Tails put two and two together and deduced where Sonic was.

"Oh No! Sonic!" Tails poked his little head out of the hole and looked down at the scenery. They weren't over the ocean or anywhere near it for that matter. The whole area looked blood red and had an early sense to it that would probably make a tough body building solider run away in terror.

The ground soil looked extremely unhealthy and skulls and other remnants of a regular mortal body were sticking out of random places. Tails then looked up at the sky. It was blood red as well, but it was slightly darker then every other piece of scenery around. Before Tails could examine some more numerous lasers struck the ship violently.

"What the?" Tails looked further down at the area he was located. There were numerous robots firing at the rusty broken ship. Closer examination showed they were also heading toward something else. Tails recognized the unconscious figure in a heartbeat. "SONIC! Wake Up! They're after you! SONIC!" Tails screamed.

Below him the blue hedgehog began to groan and poke his head up. He looked around as if he were the most confused being on the entire planet. Considering what had happened to him and Tails recently he wouldn't be surprised if he were.

"W-what happened." Sonic looked up and saw all the robots firing at his ship. Sonic immediately remembered Tails and wondered if he was still in the ship. Without hesitation the blue hedgehog got on his feet and ran toward the attackers. The robots noticed him almost immediately as about half of them turned to face the hedgehog. The other half continued firing on the vessel.

"Oh, you what to play huh?" Sonic smiled as they all shot numerous and equally deadly shots at him. The hedgehog easily maneuvered himself through the stampede of raging bullets and managed to get close enough to them for a homing attack. Sonic jumped at did the attack on one robot successfully destroying it, however the rest began to shot fire balls at him instead of bullets this time.

These weren't so easy to dodge considering the balls exploded on contact with the ground and it sometimes caused Sonic to get thrusted off balance. Sonic managed to get close again and gave another robot a head butt to his metal chest. Bad idea. Sonic was rolling on the ground in pain in a matter of seconds.

"AHHHHH! Damn it!" Sonic shouted as he grabbed his head. He looked up to see the robot he destroyed earlier reform, as well as the chest of the robot he just now head butted. "Double Damn it!" Sonic lingered there on the ground wondering what to do. He then turned his attention back to the ship, which was still getting fired on. "No way are they hurting my little buddy." Sonic got up and tried to run toward the ship but was unexpectedly tackled and brought down by the robots.

"Ack! Get off of me!" Sonic shouted and began to struggle. Meanwhile Tails was starting to get worried. He couldn't escape through the hole or he'd be blasted to no end if he did. The fox grew even more scared when the glass broke at the top of the hatch on the ship. Glass rained down on the frightened fox as he began pushing at the side of the ship hoping by some miracle he'd be able to break free. Tails put slammed his hand on the seat in frustration not knowing the glass was covering the entire thing.

"YEEEEOOOOOOW!" Tails shouted as he lifted up his now bloody yet still gloved hand. He began removing the imbedded pieces of glass from his hand when another bang caused the ship to shake and fall apart. Sonic stared unwillingly at the scene before him. The ship crumbled into pieces before his eyes.

"No…Tails…" Sonic said in a still struggling voice. All of a sudden the robots were all whacked off of Sonic's back. Well they fell and broke open the figure that helped him out ran toward them and struck them all in what seemed to be their metal hearts. Once they were all struck the exploded and didn't reform. The figure then approached Sonic and knelt down to him.

"Hey there. Are you al-" He began but never got to finish as Sonic ran toward the area where the robot were still firing on the crumbled ship, making sure none of it remains. Before Sonic could attack them many glowing arrows struck them all where their hearts were located. They all exploded, right on cue.

Sonic ran toward the pile of scrap and began digging and searching for his buddy. He found not a single aspect of him.

"Hey! Is this who you're looking for?" Asked a seemingly annoyed voice behind him. Sonic turned around immediately when he heard it. There stood an orange ferret and a gray raccoon. In the gray raccoon's hands was his now unconscious fox friend.

"Tails!" Sonic said as he ran toward them both. "Wow! Thank you for saving him…uhhhh…" Sonic hesitated.

"My name is Scorch. Scorch the Raccoon." He said blankly.

"My name is Sonic…"

"Like I give a damn. Here! Take him before I get his blood stained all over me." The raccoon stated harshly. Sonic took Tails from him and watched as the raccoon turned around and walked away from Sonic.

"Don't mind him. He's always cranky." Said the orange ferret.

"I never would've guessed." Sonic said sarcastically as he shook the ferret's hand. "Like I was saying I'm Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog."

"Nice to meet you Sonic. I'm Citrus the Ferret. I'm the one who took out the robots that were on top of you. Scorch is the one who shot the arrows at the robots shooting your ship and saved your fox friend. He really is a nice guy… he just doesn't show it. By the way why are you two hanging out in a place like this?" Citrus asked not knowing that Scorch was listening to their conversation.

"I don't know how we ended up here. One second we're looking for someone and heading over the ocean and the next we get sucked up in a huge red tornado. Weird huh?"

"Not at all. That's how most of our residents end up here."

"It is?"

"Yup. Tell me, who were you guys looking for?"

"Some dude named Combustion Fire…" Sonic began before he was tackled to the ground by Scorch. Before Sonic could react Scorch slammed his foot on Sonic's chest and pointed a glowing arrow at him.

"Scorch! Get off of him!" Citrus demanded.

"Hell no! He may have come to assist Combustion." Scorch said.

"But he said he got swept up in the tornado. It was an accident."

"But he also said he was looking for Combustion as well. I will not let a ally of that bastard get away from me."

"Whoa! Hold on! We're not your enemies. We came here to defeat Combustion." Sonic explained.

"…Defeat him? Sorry no way that's ever happening." Scorch said pulling back the arrow.

"Scorch just hear him out." Citrus plead.

"Errrr…fine! You've got 5 seconds to explain what exactly it is that you mean…and two seconds have just passed.

" We came here to defeat Combustion and take his chaos emerald. That's it." Sonic said telling the truth.

"…" Scorch hesitated.

"Scorch, I know you've had trouble trusting anyone new since 'that day' but I don't sense an bad vibes coming from that guy. If you don't trust him at least trust me. He might be of some use to us." Citrus spoke as a means of trying to calm his friend down.

Scorch moaned a bit before finally putting down his arrows and walking away. Citrus then helped him up.

"What's up with Wesley Snipes over there." Sonic asked.

"Oh something happened to him when he was eight that everyone here can relate to. He used to be so incredibly nice but now…" Citrus caught sight of the two tailed orange fox that was knocked out of Sonic's hands when he was tackled.

"What's his name?" Citrus asked pointing to the fox. Sonic immediately rushed over to Tails and picked him up only to see him awakened with a confused look on his face.

"Tails. You okay?" Sonic asked.

"…Uhhhh…I guess so…where are we Sonic?" Tails asked.

"Your in Magma Mill. The inescapable realm of fire." Answered Citrus.

"Who are you?" Tails asked.

"I'm Citrus the Ferret. And you?"

"Ummmm…my name is Miles Prower…but my nickname is Tails."

"Nice to meet you Tails."

"Hey! Are you three coming or what!" Scorch shouted from a distance.

"Come on you guys. I'll tell you more on the way." Citrus said running after Scorch. Sonic and Tails agreed and ran after him.

Eggman's flying fortress

Metal Sonic browsed threw Eggman's computer and checked every file he could find but he couldn't find anything on Eggman's REAL plan. If only he knew. If only Eggman actually told his employees anything then maybe he wouldn't need to do this. The robot grew more frustrated with every unsuccessful search.

The robot even checked Eggman's restricted area where he needed a special password to get in. The password was 'Tom and Jerry'. Metal had no idea why.

He was about to give up when he came across a small icon at the bottom right hand corner of the screen. It was the first time Metal had noticed it. It looked like Eggman's famous symbol. The robot moved the curser onto the icon and clicked. As soon as the small sound was heard an ass load of files jumped out at him on screen. Metal immediately started searching them all.

He eventually came across a file that was marked 'Kitsune war plan'. Struck by curiosity Metal opened the file and began reading. His eyes scrolled through every sentence, every paragraph as fast as lightning. When he was finished he just sat there amazed.

"So… Eggman's planning on going to war with the world… but what does this have to do with the kitsune." Metal wondered. Eggman could be using the war as a distraction so he can reach coordinates 000 before anyone else. Only a sick and evil man would use a full-scale war as a diversion. That sure sounded like Eggman. Satisfied that he had gotten a real answer he turned off the computer and went to go speak with Darkness through the walkie-talkie alone in his room.

As he snuck down the hall toward his room he felt a very weird presence. The robot ignored it and claimed it to be the wind. He then headed into his room not knowing of the visitor watching him from around the corner.

"HaHa! I got it all on tape. Time to so ." Bokkunn said as fled off to his master with the video camera in hand.

Back at Magma Mill

"Take a good look around you guys. This is I, Scorch's, and all of us struggling survivors' home." Citrus explained. Sonic and Tails looked around the area in disbelief. It was so ruined, dark, and down right creepy.

"This is your home?" Tails asked.

"Yup. We are all frightened and very cautioned people. Merely setting your foot outside the underground shelter was a life risk. Ever since Combustion Fire showed up we've lived like this in agony. As soon as he got on our island he began killing people for no good reason. He made the rest all do chores. He said he was going to kill off all the woman, children, babies, and seniors since they were 'apparently' not strong enough to work." Citrus explained.

"Really?" Sonic asked.

"Yeah. We were put in four separate lines. One line was filled with the men who were to get to work immediately while the other four lines filled with random people went to separate areas to be either thrown in the fire pit, put in a poison gas chamber, hanged, on shot. Since me and Scorch were about 8 or 9 when it happened we were lumped in with the huge pile of woman, kids, babies, and seniors."

"So how come your still alive?" Tails wondered.

"Because they're weren't enough men to complete the stressful task they wanted us to do so they gave us all a strength test. We were made to go from one end of a small field to the other with a bag of bricks on our back. They gave us an untold time limit to do it. Since Scorch and I were determined enough we made it through, plus the field wasn't very big. However, the seniors about all failed. A large amount of woman made it through. A large amount of kids made it through as well. The babies were all thrown in the fire pit instantly."

"Wow…this Combustion guy seems a lot more ruthless then Karst is." Sonic admitted.

"I know. That's not even the worst part though. We were made to work on Combustion's new temple all day everyday without rest, food, or water. Since this place is very hot that became a huge problem. Not only that but the cabins we slept in were REALLY cold. The somehow got it to be that way using some sort of machine. We weren't allowed to sleep with blankets, sheets, or pillows and we were only given 6 hours of sleep. The guards we so cruel they even played with our lives."

"What do you mean?" Sonic asked.

"For example, one day they were all having this party and they forced some of us to come in so they could play with us. Some of us we strapped to the wall and shot at to see if they could hit a certain area on our bodies. Some of them were hung from the ceiling by their necks, which killed them instantly, and whacked at with sticks. As for me, well, I was one of the lucky ones to only get a beating. I passed out a couple of times and woke up with water splashed all over my face."

"Did they at least feed you?" Sonic asked a little amazed by the sense of cruelty he was hearing.

"No. They, on very rare occasions would give us some moldy bread and dirty dishwater to feast on. Being desperate as hell we all drank and ate it down and didn't complain. Our work continued, still with no rest, food, or water, and one by one we all began to die. They noticed we were all beginning to eat the very dirt we worked on for food and began tormenting us by eating fresh and wonderful tasting food in front of our faces! This one kid named Tray, who was my very good friend next to Scorch couldn't take the abuse so he lunged at the selfish guards and tried to snatch away their food. They beat him down hard then put a gun directly into his mouth and shot him."

"Is that why Scorch is so mad, because he lost a friend. I'd be sad if I lost Sonic as a friend." Tails admitted.

"No…he sad because of a different reason…you see…Scorch…he…" Citrus had a very hard time explaining this. "…He used to be a very sensitive, shy, and all around nice person. I remember the first time I met him…"

Flashback

Eight-year-old Scorch sat alone in the forest counting the amount of shells he owned. There were only seven of them so it didn't take him long. He was so board and lonely he didn't know what to do with himself. That's when he heard footsteps coming from behind. He turned to see the three neighborhood bullies towering over him. Scorch was so oblivious to the outside world he really didn't know who they were.

"H-hi… I'm Scorch… do you wanna play with me."

"Play with you? HAHAHAHAHA! That's funny kid. Who are you anyway?" asked the tallest bully.

"S-s-s-s-scorch?" He answered hesitantly.

"Well from now on your name is Wimp!" Said the kid next to the apparent leader.

"B-but my name is…" Scorch began when he was suddenly grabbed by the patch of fur in front of his neck and lifted up.

"Your name is whatever we tell you it is. Got that!" Shouted the mean juggernaut.

"I-I-I-I." Scorch was scared. He grew even more scared when he saw the bully pull back his fist. Suddenly the bully yelped in apparent agony. Scorch turned his head slightly to the side to dodge the in coming rancid breath of the tall child. Soon after the bully fell the ground crying. The two others stood confused until they were met with the same agonizing blow to the back. The both fell and cried along with him.

Scorch stood there confused until an orange ferret jumped from out of the trees and landed in front of the Raccoon.

"Hey there. You alright?" Eight-year-old Citrus asked.

"…Uh-huh." Answered equally eight-year-old Scorch. When Citrus saw the bullies get up and look toward them Citrus hid in the bushes leaving Scorch by himself. Suddenly he heard Citrus' voice.

"Try to follow my words with your mouth as best as you can…and make sure to look mad." Citrus said. Scorch didn't know where he was going with this but he mentally agreed. When the bullies stared at Scorch with confused and teary eyes they began to hear him, or rather Citrus, speak. As he was told Scorch put on the best mean face he could and tried to follow his words as best as he could.

"That's what you punks get! And if you ever mess with me again I'll come straight to your house and set each one of your throats on fire! Understand!" Scorch tried his best to mouth Citrus's words. The bullies hurriedly got to their feet and ran away crying. Citrus got out of the bushes and watched the Ten-year-old menaces leave.

"Uh…thanks…but won't they come back to beat me up again?" Scorch asked.

"Naaaw. Those bullies are real wimps. I've seen them cry when they get a small scrap on their arm. I mean a REALLY small scrap. So, my name is Citrus, what's yours?" The friendly ferret asked.

"…Uh…Scorch…Scorch the Raccoon."

"Nice to meet you Scorch." Citrus answered back happily.

End flashback

"Since that day me and him became very close friends. He began to learn that he was going to have to stick up for himself and learn to be strong. There was this one other time when I fell from a hill and landed in the forest near the area where some of the wolves live and feed. Since I was unconscious Scorch had to save me. I thanked him over a million times for that." Citrus said a bit overjoyed.

'That's sounds like me and Sonic.' Tails thought.

"But as I said something happened to him that was a lot worse than the way everyone else lost their family." Citrus took a deep breath then continued. " Combustion's men…they gave Scorch a pistol and… the told him…they told him if he didn't shoot and kill his younger brother then his parents would die!"

Sonic almost lost his balance when he heard that. Tails just stared out at Citrus' teary face in pure shock as he continued on.

"So… Scorch…he didn't do it… so like they said his parents got killed and him and his little brother were sent to work. His little brother soon died from searing pain and hunger, not to mention he was completely dehydrated. He's always thought till this day that his family died because of him, but that isn't true. Since then I've been the only family Scorch has had, well, me and all the other kid survivors. I'm 14 now and so is Scorch. Everyone else that survived and lives with us are 13-15 and there is one 16-year-old but that's it."

"…I never imagined such cruelty could exist…I just…can't understand…why would he…?" Sonic began.

"None of us knew. It was all completely unexpected. Him and his men just came here said hello, played nice for a while, then Combustion started killing everyone. It all happened so fast. Hey! We're here!" Citrus shouted.

Sonic, Tails, and Citrus have been talking so long while walking they didn't even notice they had arrived. Scorch stood by the door tapping his foot in frustration waiting for them to catch up. When he finally saw them round the corner he sighed in relief.

"Nice of you guys to show up. I was beginning to thing the scout bots found you." Scorch said in a slightly bored tone.

"Yeah sorry, I was just explaining to them what happened to this place." Citrus apologized.

"…That's nice…lets' just head inside." Scorch said turning toward the boulder and taping a few buttons on the panel that seemed to just appear out of nowhere. In reality it didn't because it was just covered up by another panel that looked exactly like a piece of a rock and had the same texture. Soon after that a small hatch door opened up in front of them.

"After you." Sonic said to Scorch and Citrus. Citrus went in first, the Scorch, then Tails, then finally Sonic. The hatch immediately closed when everyone was inside. Once inside they began walking down a dark tunnel. Tails was always afraid of the dark so he felt slightly uncomfortable. Luckily Sonic noticed his discomfort almost immediately.

"You alright Tails?" asked the curious hedgehog.

"…Uhhhh…yeah." Tails stuttered while looking around the dark cave.

"Come on, you don't have to put on that tough guy act with me." Sonic said pulling the fox closer to his nice warm chest. Tails smiled and continued walking. "You feeling any better?" Sonic asked.

"…A little." Tails said smiling. Scorch heard their sounds of happiness and friendship behind him. It was rare that he ever felt that feeling inside him anymore. Suddenly a hand came to his shoulder.

"You gonna be alright buddy?" Citrus asked.

"…I'll be fine…" Scorch said in the first compassionate voice heard come out of the raccoon's mouth since Sonic and Tails arrived. Maybe he wasn't as grouchy as first predicted.

They continued walking down the tunnel until they reached another door. Scorch quickly typed in the pin number in the hatch panel next to him and opened it. As soon as they got inside they noticed many teens of 13,14,15, and apparently one 16-year-old sitting around. They all turned and spotted Sonic and Tails.

"Hi there." Sonic said in a cheery tone. As soon as he did however many lasers were pointed directly at him. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! What I do?" Sonic asked. The scared fox hid behind Sonic immediately.

"Hey you guys, calm down! This is Sonic the Hedgehog and behind him is his little friend Tails." Citrus explained.

"Apparently they're staying with us so don't anyone make any kind of move on them." Scorch warned.

"Hey, wait a minute! How do we know they're not one of Combustion's spies!" Shouted someone in the back.

"We were just about to give them an I.Q check and a mind scan actually." Citrus stated.

"A what?" Sonic asked.

"The I.Q test is to see how smart you are and the mind scan tells us if you're working for Combustion. I know you guys will pass with flying colors though." Citrus said with a grin.

"Okay lets do this." Sonic said completely pumped up.

_Leaf forest Gun base_

"Okay men…and woman…we've no time to waist. We've got to get to that mountain at once!" Smoke commanded as his men made their way to their ships.

"Uh excuse me!" Shouted Rouge.

"What is it bat?" Smoke said a bit uneasy.

"This Magma Mill place we're headed." Began Rouge.

"What about it?"

"Well, you say it's located in the Crystal Ocean, however…" Rouge pulled a map out of her pocket, twirled it open and began viewing it. "…This place isn't on the map." She concluded.

"Of course it isn't."

"What! You know?"

"Affirmative."

"Then how do you expect us to travel to an uncharted area?"

"Easy, we just go there." Smoke said walking toward his ship. Rouge just smiled and sat in the cockpit with Big.

"Works for me." Rouge said pulling the hatch down.

"Are we taking off?" Big asked while leaning his head up from the seat to face Rouge.

"Yup. Hang on." Rouge warned as the runways became clear. The G.U.N ships all immediately took off toward the skies and headed straight for their destination.

Smoke said in the lead plane focusing on his mission when he heard a voice come from the seat next to him. However, this wasn't possible since no one sat next to him.

"Hello SmokeStack." Said the voice. Soon a shroud of darkness appeared in the empty seat and reformed into a certain cloaked figure.

"What is it now Darkness?" Smoke asked slightly irritated.

"You don't sound happy to see me?" Darkness stated.

"No one is ever happy to see the likes of you running around. Now what is it?"

"I just came to warn you that the 'fate rising' day is drawing near and you still haven't killed the fox have you?"

"So, you came to gloat huh? Well it won't work. I swear I will kill that fox!" Smoke shouted.

"Oh face it Smog breath you'll never kill him. The fate rising will happen and the fox will become a kitsune. And no matter what you do, no matter where you go, no matter what you say, there is nothing you can do…to stop it."

Smoke sat there and stared at the sky for a while. He was in deep thought. He began to wonder what it might actually to be like to experience the wrath of the kitsune first hand…like his ancestors did.

"What you say may be true…it may still happen…but as long as I'm breathing I'll make it my life's work to kill him! He WILL pay for what he did." Smoke shouted.

"…Fine. Have it your way. I do kind of enjoy seeing you pathetic fools squirm, however." With that said Darkness teleported out of the ship and hovered over the fleet of ships heading straight for Crystal Ocean.

"…My, my…look at all the pawns." Suddenly he was interrupted by a ring in his ear.

"Yes what is it Metal?" Darkness said knowing it was him.

"_Sir, I've got some more news. Eggman isn't just planning on heading to coordinate 000 he's planning on started a war with G.U.N in order to distract them from his whereabouts."_ Metal Sonic said on the other end.

"Oh, is that so." Darkness wondered.

Eggman's base

Eggman journeyed his way toward the robot hanger and began to type in something on his keyboard. Suddenly he heard a familiar zoom come from Bokkunn.

"Doctor, doctor! I've got terrible news! Metal found out you were going to start a war with G.U.N" Bokkunn yelled.

"Oh did he? Well I guess my new war monger will have to take care of things for me." Eggman finished typing in the code he was putting in then all of a sudden there was a huge click. The pod in front of the keyboard began to open.

"Uh. Whose that?" Bokkunn asked.

"My newest companion." Eggman said.

The pod completely opened all the way and out stepped a familiar purple jaguar with a robotic arm and a robotic eye as well.

"Look's like your arm and eye are fully constructed. Welcome to our team…Hang Nail." Eggman sneered.

"I gotta say, it's gonna be fun being a war monger." Stated the now completely evil jaguar.

"Oh I'm sure it will be. Not only that but I'm giving you the pleasure of being the one who has to take down young Miles Prower."

"…Me face Homeless Two Tail again…great! Now I get to beat him a second time. It must be my lucky day."

_Again I am really sorry for the long awaited update. I'll try to get it in sooner next time. By ya'll._


	22. Chapter 22

Bet yah thought I was gone for good huh? I'm depressed now. I tried updating but I had this report given to me by my science teacher. At first I said, "Okay, I'll get this over with and get back to writing." However, a few days later, when I turned it in he gave us another one right off the back. 4 reports later I was able to find time to at least start on this next chapter. I doubt many of you are still reading this but I did get a review from someone stating they were tired of waiting. I didn't want to disappoint any longer so here it is.

**Chapter 21: Red Generator, Black Magic**

"Wow! This place is really dirty." stated the astonished two-tailed fox as he circled the incredibly small abode filled with numerous teens and pre-teens.

"Don't dilly dally! We're almost to the brain scan and I.Q testing room." Scorch said impatiently as they all hurried down the hall.

Many of the hideout's residents were walking cautiously behind. Their weapons were at their sides and ready for quick use. For if the brain scan proved they we on Combustion's side no one would hesitate to kill them mercilessly.

Sonic seemed unfazed by their expected reaction to new roaming city folk arriving from out of the blue. He continued acting the way he always does; cool, calm, and collected.

Scorch saw his amazingly comforted body movement and raised an eyebrow. Something was just weird about this hedgehog to him.

"We're here." Announced Citrus as they made their way into a broken and run down yet still active high tech computer and technology center. Sonic and Tails looked all across the room in pure astonishment.

"WOOOOOOW! It's so big…and…mechanical!" Tails said as his eyes gleamed at the sparking wires and cracked glass on the barely functioning computer monitors. Tails had always had a certain unexplained liking for this stuff. He saw some guy on something called a T.V back at Westside Island talking about computers. It was cool! Tails, however, didn't have time to finish watching it because the family whose house he broke into to steal food came back and he needed to slip away undetected.

"I bet you're in geek heaven, eh Tails?" Sonic asked. Tails' eyes gleamed even brighter as he turned to face the hedgehog and reply.

"ALL THIS IS AMAZING SONIC! CAN I HAVE ONE OF THEM!?" Tails asked completely ecstatic. Sonic's sweat dropped.

"Well…maybe…if the cops stop chasing me you can." As soon as the hedgehog said that everyone turned to him in a bit of confusion and suspicion. Sonic and Tails immediately knew why they were starring at them so menacingly.

"NO! It's not what you think!" Tails said.

"Like it matters. We're only interested in whether or not you're working with Combustion or not. Nothing else concerns us." Scorch said pulling the lever of the brain scan machine that was sitting in the center of the room.

Everyone in the group calmed down and hurriedly agreed with Scorch. Both Sonic and Tails blew sighs of relief.

The brain scan machine opened up its front compartment to reveal two seats. Both seats were constructed of torn leather and had a sparking helmet attached to a pivoting bar, which suspended the helmet over the seat.

Sonic and Tails were a bit unsure about what they were suppose to do. The machine looked a bit complicated and dangerous at that.

"Well! Hurry up and sit down!" Scorch shouted. The hedgehog and fox did as they were told. Citrus, who was at the control panel, pulled another lever, which caused the helmets to lower on the two slightly frightened mammals. Once that was accomplished Citrus walked in front of them both and began explaining.

"Okay, listen up." He said with a reassuring smile on his face. "There is nothing to be worried about. This machine may look old but, trust me, it does work." The ferret explained. Sonic and Tails looked at each other a little unsure but they nodded in agreement. Citrus pressed a green button, which started up the machine, which caused more sparks to rain over the helmet.

"S-S-S-S-Sonic? W-what's happening?" Tails asked as the electric volts searched his brain.

"I'm not sure buddy…I'm kind of worried too." Admitted the blue blur.

"Don't be. Just relax." Stated Citrus. Scorch just stood there a bit eager to see the results. Eventually the machine admitted out a huge 'ding', which signaled that the test was a success.

"Okay now lets see how you did." Scorch said looking up at the monitor. Everyone held their weapons tightly in their hands and awaited the results. Both Sonic and Tails gulped at the sight of the numbers going across the screen. Eventually the machine stopped and the results were in.

"…APPROVED!" Blinked the machine. Everyone relaxed and loosened their hold on their weapons. Sonic and Tails both made a deep sigh. Sonic at first thought it would be no big deal but the realization of the situation was finally beginning to sink in. They were basically trapped.

In the palace on Magma Mill

Combustion Fire was playing chess with his employee looking extremely bored. He kept those damn guard robots out all the time yet there still was no sign of those pre-teen and teenage runaways.

"That's check mate sir." Stated the employee. Combustion stared at the board that at his servant. He then lifted his hand and shot a fireball at the man's face. It hit directly and caused him to fall out of his seat rolling on the ground in tremendous pain.

"AHHHH! MY EYES! MY FACE!" He shouted as his body began to burn. Combustion merely yarned.

"This is incredibly boring…what?" Combustion was beginning to get a signal from one of his guards as shown on his monitor. A big red dot was headed for his tornado drop out area. "OHHHH! ANOTHER VICTIM! HAHAHAHAHA!"

Meanwhile

"Now here's another one Big." Rouge cleared her throat. "How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?" Rouge asked.

"About 74 pounds." Big said reading the 'Everything about Everything book.'

"Wow! Really? I thought it would be more than that." Rouge said surprised.

"ROUGE! BIG! We're experiencing some turbulence! Where are you guys!?" Smoke shouted into his communicator from a distance. Rouge picked up her walkie-talkie and quickly answered.

"We're a little bit behind you guys. What are you talking about? What turbulence?" Rouge screamed into the communicator.

"LOOK!" Shouted the plump cat next to her. Rouge looked up at the sky and saw a huge tornado fall from the sky and into the extremely confused and large amount of G.U.N soldiers. It began sucking everyone up in sight…and it was headed straight for them!

"Quickly! We need to turn around!" Shouted Rouge. Despite their intention to move, when she grabbed at the controls they wouldn't budge. "WHAT! What's this!?" Rouge shouted in frustration and she began to grind her teeth at the machinery's lack of response to her pleas. The tornado seemed like it was moving closer, however, in reality, they were moving closer to it!

"We're headed straight for it!" Big shouted trying to help the bat out. The now scared frog immediately hopped in the back seat as a pathetic means to hide from the danger.

"Great! Now what do we do?" Rouge said as they were starting to ascend into the tornado.

"What can we do?" Big asked.

"We can put our hands on our heads and duck." Rouge suggested.

"…"

"Hey it's worth a try." She stated before they were just shot straight into the tornado like a speck of dirt that has just fallen victim to an extremely powerful vacuum cleaner.

Back in Magma Palace

"That's the second visit we've had today. GAURDS! GO OUT AND BLOW THE ENTIRE BASE CAMP!" Shouted the angry fire themed half-robot.

"But sir! That's, like, ¼ of out entire island! Our other guards might still be out there!" Reminded the guard.

"…Oh I get it…your saying the pathetic and underhanded guard's life is more important than a direct order from me!" Combustion yelled.

"WHAT! NO SIR! I JUST…!" Started the terrified guard.

"OH SO NOW YOU'RE CALLING ME A LIER!" Combustion didn't even wait for an answer before he carried out his next coarse of action. "It seems your starting to get a little hot headed…literally."

All of a sudden the guard's head felt like there was literally a fire lit on his brain…AND THERE WAS! The guard screamed at the ceiling as he clawed at his noggin, however, it was all in vain. Eventually the top of the man's head blew open and he fell the ground, dead.

"Now! The rest of you I want you to power up my black magic mind shuffler in order to get the red generator up and running! That should be the easiest way to dispose of these freaks… and drive out the resistance as well…WELL! What are you waiting for? Get to it!" He shouted which drove every single guard out of the room.

Back with the resistance

"Okay, it's time for the I.Q test. This test will prove whether or not you can be of some use to us in the heat of battle and in the field of strategy." Stated Citrus.

"Sounds cool." Sonic said as they approached the weird looking machine and stood on the black platform. A green ray shot out from the top of the machine and scanned Sonic's brain.

"Let me take a minute to explain the I.Q numbers scale: (Author's note: These are REAL I.Q numbers with accurate explanations. I looked them all up.)

An I.Q of 0-84 is a Below Average score obtained by people in elementary school or lower

An I.Q of 85-114 is an Average score and is usually obtained by people at junior high school

An I.Q of 115-124 is an Above Average score and is usually obtained by people at senior high school.

An I.Q of 125-134 is a Gifted score and is usually obtained by College University Graduates.

An I.Q of 135-144 is a Highly Gifted score and is usually obtained by Intellectuals.

An I.Q of 145-154 is a Genius score and is usually obtained by Professors.

An I.Q of 155-164 is a Genius score and is usually obtained by Nobel Prize Winners.

An I.Q of 165-179 is a High Genius score obtained by Einstein.

An I.Q of 180-200 is the Highest Genius score ever recorded.

An I.Q of 201+ is an immeasurable genius.

"Sorry that took so long…but it looks like it killed time. Sonic's results are in." Citrus said as he looked at the monitor for Sonic's eleven-year-old I.Q score.

The screen flashed: …83.

"AN 83! WOW! You're only eleven, right!"

"Yeah, but that score is pretty much gonna be that way the rest of my life. It's not like I go to school or anything. Scorch made a 'piff' in the background.

It was now Tails' turn. The little fox was scared but never the less as Sonic stepped off he made his way up to the machine. Before he could step on, however, Scorch stood in his way.

"Scorch? What are you doing?" Asked Citrus.

"Let's just stop this. This kid can't be of any use to us. There is no way he'll score higher then a 40 on that thing." Scorch said out loud. Everyone started to nod in agreement.

"Yeah, he's right." Stated someone in the back.

"Forget about him."

"This is a waste of time anyway. None of these two weirdoes are going to be of any use to us anyway."

"Everybody SHUT UP!" Sonic yelled. Everyone turned to him. "Let the little guy have his chance, alright. You might even be surprised." Sonic smirked.

"I seriously doubt that." Scorch said getting out of Tails' way. Tails felt a little sad again. This is just the way everyone thought of him back on Westside Island. He was merely a worthless nuisance to them. Tails didn't like being reminded of the horror of that place. The little fox stepped on the black platform and let the machine scan his mind.

Everyone waited in silence as the machine started blaring out flashing colors. Sonic starred confidently at the monitor awaiting the surprised looks on their faces when they saw the score. This is the same fox who fixed up his bi-plane at the age of four! He was getting a higher score than anyone in this room and Sonic knew it.

Tails however didn't think he'd do so well. Ever since he was born he had always underestimated himself and his abilities. Too him it would take a miracle for him to get a high score.

'There's no way this brat's getting a score over 40; 45 tops.' Scorch was sure of it.

'This should turn out to be quite interesting." Stated Citrus as he watched the flashing come to a stand still. The numbers then appeared on the screen. Everyone, including Sonic's jaw dropped. Tails looked up at it and almost choked on his own saliva!

"No…way…" Someone stated in the back.

"That's higher than Citrus' score…"

"Impossible!"

"That can't be right!" Scorch yelled. "The machine must be broken or something!" Scorch stared at the score while his eye twitched frustratingly.

The screen flashed…136

"Awesome job Tails!" Sonic said congratulating his friend by giving him a noogie. Tails chuckled and squirmed around a bit at this. Everyone continued to stare blankly at them.

'_W-who are they?'_ Scorch asked in his head.

"Amazing score!" Citrus said snapping out of his trance. "Terrific score! Higher than anyone on this island has ever gotten!" He said while clapping his hands. Everyone immediately regained control of their senses and took as step forward.

"I don't understand. How…could he have gotten…that's…that's an intellectual score. This kid is highly gifted!" Scorch said. Tails smiled at the praise he was getting.

"Oh yeah! If he's so smart let's see him fix the 'Omicron panel'!" Some girl shouted in the back. Everyone gasped and turned to her.

"What? What's that?" Tails asked.

"Yeah, I've never heard of it." Sonic said.

"Of coarse you haven't. The Omicron panel is a device that comes in two parts: a chip that contains a virus, and a panel that supplied an unlimited amount of energy. It's been deactivated for some time now, however, if it wasn't we'd be able to defeat Combustion very easily and be free of his grasp." Citrus explained.

"So why not just fix it?" Sonic asked.

"Because it's one of the many items here that is shrouded in black magic. Like all items that are shrouded in black magic on this island, there is a certain rule or restriction that must be presented to the item in order for the black magic seal to disappear. This one requires a person of the correct I.Q to re-activate it. We tried using someone from our group to fix it but the magic of the device rejected him because of his I.Q and thus he was killed on the spot."

"Wh-what!" Tails freaked out.

"That device wants a person with an acceptable I.Q. If you try to fix it and you don't have a high enough I.Q the thing kills you. Combustion uses black magic all the time; he has a huge mind shuffler in the generator room that controls all the black magic at his disposal. When he saw that we had a device like this he immediately cast a spell on it and turned it into a tool of evil." Citrus concluded.

"I don't know if he's the one though." Scorch stated.

"I'm thinking he'll be enough. Combustion thinks were all idiots. He probably set the bar at college level. Us being pre-teens and teens we couldn't be accepted. However, we're just average people and he's not." Citrus said pointed to the fox.

"What do you think Tails?" Sonic asked the very terrified fox.

"…Ummmm…is there anyway I won't die if I don't have a high enough I.Q." Tails asked.

"I'm pretty sure you do." Citrus reassured.

"But what if I don't?"

"Tails, you've got to learn to believe in yourself buddy. You're smarter than anyone on this entire island and your doubting yourself? Come on buddy I know you can do this." Sonic said.

"Well…I…ummm…o-okay…I guess…" said the still unsure fox. "Where is it?" Tails asked.

Later

Everyone stood around the fox and stared at him while he sat in the middle of the chamber room. Tails eyed the piece of machinery in front of him. It was just as Citrus had explained. It was a big panel with a small chip attached to it. Tails didn't see how it was cursed though. It looked like a regular piece of equipment to him.

"Go ahead and try Tails." Citrus said looking rather confident. Tails looked up at him then at Sonic who gave him his traditional wink and thumbs up.

"…'Gulp' Okay I think I'm ready…I think…" Tails began to pick it up but as soon as he did the panel turned into a black color and a huge dark aurora filled the room. Everyone was scared but they held their ground.

"Come on you can do it buddy." Sonic said.

"I...I'll try…" Tails began screwing in parts and fixing the panel up easily. With each tightened bolt the dark flash grew brighter. Every screw he screwed on caused the I.Q level the machine wanted to rise. If Tails could finish it while exceeding the limit than they'd be home free.

"Come on kid." Scorch said out loud.

There was only one blot left. If Tails could sink this one in it'd be fixed for good.. The fox picked up the screw and slowly slipped it into the panel shrouded in darkness. He then picked up his screwdriver and began screwing it in. Everyone's sweat dropped as they waited. Only a few more twists to go…three…two…one…

"…D-did I do it right?" Tails asked. Suddenly the panel made a loud beast like roar. The unexpected sound effect startled the young fox to no end. Just then the shade of darkness rose out of the panel and circled around the scared fox. "What's happening!?" Tails shouted in fear. The black aurora surrounded him for a few minutes before dissipating.

"WHOO HOOO! Tails! You totally did it!" Sonic shouted with overwhelming excitement. It wasn't before long that everybody cheered. Citrus and Sonic immediately ran up to the fox and began praising him.

"You really are somethin' else kid." Citrus said amazed yet again. Tails blushed as a reaction. Suddenly everyone hauled the little fox up and began chanting his name while heading out the door. Tails was so excited. They were cheering for him! They think he's actually good at something. They all left the room leaving Citrus and Scorch to themselves.

"Don't you think we should save the cheering for later? After all we still need to implant the ship into Combustion's generator. Since that's considered being a suicide mission I might want to go by myself." Scorch stated.

"Yeah right. We're going together…actually let's take half of the group with us and the other half can stay her and install the panel to our base. That way our large supply of weaponry can be functional again." Citrus suggested.

"Do you honestly think that many people is necessary? A lot of lives are at stake you know."

"Listen Scorch, you can't do this alone. You're not the only one who wants to get even with Combustion you know." Citrus said following the group. Scorch stood there before agreeing and heading off.

An hour later

Sonic, Tails, and the others sat preparing a plan to infiltrate Combustion's generator room. The plan was too be carried out as follows:

Sonic and half of the group remain at the safe house in order to patch things up and prepare the weaponry.

Meanwhile Tails, Scorch, and Citrus head out to the field to locate the Red generator hut.

Once there they will search for the mind shuffler, the source of Combustion's black magic power.

Tails will implant the chip on the pipe connecting the mind shuffler and the generator.

The chip will send a virus through the generator and cause all of Combustion's security weaponry to malfunction.

Most likely, Combustion will send his top men to investigate sine he never plays around when it comes to his ultimate power source.

Meanwhile Sonic and 1/3 of the group will reconfigure every one of Combustion's laser and missile security so it only locks on the generator hut.

The rest of the group will storm the palace and make it clear to Combustion that there is an attack taking place.

He will call back his guards, which is when Tails, Scorch, and Citrus escape and inform Sonic to activate the lasers.

Once activated the lasers will fire at the generator hut destroying not only the generator but killing the guards and obliterating the mind shuffler.

Now that Combustion has no defense they will use there beefed up weaponry too easily take him and his weaker guards down.

It seemed full proof except for one factor they didn't see coming…

"Hey Smoke, I think I see the palace over there." Rouge said pointing toward the unmistakable red palace.

"I see…so where is this generator I've heard so much about from the reports of this place." SmokeStack started searching the area for any sign of the generator. It wasn't long before he spotted it, the generator's hut. "Now I can find my chaos emerald."

"What about me?" Rouge asked from behind.

"No one gives a daman, bitch." Smoke said harshly and walked away.

"Well!" Rouge said annoyed.

"Well what?" Big asked still comforting his pet frog.

Meanwhile the plan was being put to action. Sonic and the smartest kids there stayed and began powering the entire underground base loaded with previously deactivated yet very destructive weapons.

Tails, Scorch, Citrus, and the rest of the group headed out to the field and didn't waste time taking on the weaker guards that contained no black magic power. While the rest of the kids were fighting Tails, Scorch, and Citrus snuck into the generator hut's compartment.

"Okay we're inside…now what?" Tails asked.

"Put the chip on the pipe that connects the generator and the mind shuffler!" Scolded Scorch.

"Oh! Right!" Tails looked up in front of him and eyed the huge red generator. The fox examined it's clearly superior metal alloyed and began having fantasies of himself building something really big like this. He could see it now, it would be a huge ship that can travel into space and he'd call it…the Blue Typhoon. That's a nice name.

"YO! Tails! Put the damn chip onto the freakin' pipe and lets get the hell out of here!" Scorch yelled.

"Hey! Whose there!" Shouted a voice coming from the top of the generator. Scorch, Tails, and Citrus looked up and saw a very irritated looking many…who looked like he had puffs of smoke in his hands. As soon as Tails saw the man he immediately hid behind the mind shuffler.

'_Why does that man keep following me everywhere?'_ Tails asked in his head.

"Just who the hell are you?" Scorch shouted.

"I'm Commander SmokeStack! What are you doing here!" Smoke shouted a bit irritated.

"Like we're going to tell you!"

"Um, Scorch, I think you're getting him mad." Citrus warned. All of a sudden Smoke extended his open palm.

"Fine! Then since none of you are of any use to me, YOU WILL DIE!" He shouted while shouted a blast of smoke at Scorch. The raccoon easily dodged the attack and extended his claws. They immediately lit up with a golden glow.

"TAKE THIS!" Scorch said lashing out at the foggy man. Smoke shot up in the air and flew around and past the raccoon. Scorch honestly didn't see that coming and didn't have time to react before a huge brown boot connected with his back. Scorch hit the generator with a thud but quickly fumbled to his feet when he saw Smoke jetting straight for him.

"Hey Tails, is the thing attached yet." Citrus asked sneaking behind the shuffler.

"Almost." Said the fox that was still screwing the thing on. "There!" Tails said telling Citrus that he was done. Citrus immediately took out his walkie-talkie and spoke into it.

"Okay Sonic, activate the lasers. The guards should be heading here in about a minute." Citrus stated.

'_Okay! Executing command right_ _now!'_ Sonic answered.

At the weaponry border

"Okay everyone the lasers are set." Sonic said typing the last code into the huge weapon. "Now time for my favorite part…LET'S BUM RUSH THE PALACE!" Sonic said raising his fist.

Everyone cheered in excitement and rage as they all turned and headed toward Combustion's palace with Sonic leading the way.

Back in the generator hut

"Okay guys I've told Sonic to fire the lasers. We just need to wait for the guards to show up which will be in three…two…one…"

Suddenly the door to the hut burst open and many tough looking thugs walked in. Tails and Citrus saw them enter and tried to escape out the back.

"Pissssst! Scorch!" Tails called. Scorch was busy dodging every gust of smoke chugged straight at him when he heard Tails call out to him. "Come on Scorch, the guards are here." Tails said as he crept to the small opening in the back. Scorch smiled and turned towards Smoke.

"Sorry I couldn't stay longer but I have to leave."

"You actually think you and those two squirts behind there are leaving! HA! Think again." Smoke smirked.

"W-what? How'd you…" Scorch started before he was hit with a huge blast of smoke that shot him straight at the steel platforming in the room. The platform literally broke apart from its hinges and fell like a rock toward the ground.

"I almost got it open T-" Citrus began while he was trying to unscrew the back opening when a huge steel platform crashed landed on top of him. This automatically scared the fox to the point of screaming out loud in tremendous fear. Smoke was holding Scorch against the wall by his neck when he heard a familiar voice scream. Smoke let go of the raccoon and turned to his real target.

"There he is!" Smoke said as he flew straight for him. Before he connected however a huge flamethrower was shot at him. Smoke stopped in his tracks and turned to see many huge thugs glaring at him. Tails noticed Smoke and the guards immediately and quickly turned to Scorch for support. However, Scorch was lying on the ground unconscious so he couldn't help. Tails would've grabbed his friends and escaped out the back but it was being blocked by a few pounds of steel.

"What do you idiots want?" Smoke asked in the most irritated voice ever.

"What!" Shouted one guard.

"We are the strongest of King Combustion's flaming soldiers. Bow to us nave!" Another one shouted.

"Ugh. Hearing your chowdery voices makes me want to claw my own eyes out. Get the hell out of here!"

"Hell no!" The third one shouted as they all began to blast at SmokeStack. He started to fly across the room, easily dodging their misguided excuse for an assault.

While Tails watched them fight he turned to the steel on the ground and tried lifting it. It was no use. Citrus would die if this stayed on him any longer. The fox grew even more worried when he saw blood trickle out from the bottom. The fox desperately tried lifting it but it wouldn't work.

'_Oh great! Now what do I do? Those lasers are gonna destroy all three of us if we can't get out of here.'_ Tails said worriedly. He had to think. He just recently discovered that his I.Q excelled past 100! He had to think of something. If he didn't his friends would die!

That's when the fox was struck by inspiration. He quickly twirled his tails and flew up into the balcony and landed on a platform overhead Smoke and the flame themed guards.

"HEY! SMOKE MAN! I'M OVER HERE!" Tails shouted loud enough for everyone to hear. Smoke turned to the fox and growled.

"Why you…" Smoke stopped abruptly to dodge the incoming flames. The flames hit the platform Tails was standing on and melted through. The platform fell and landed on the edge of the other platform blocking the door. It hit so hard that the blockage was bent out of shape, which made his ferret friend visible again. Tails quickly flew down and took him from under the platform and tried to shake him awake.

"Stand aside fox." Came a voice from behind. Tails turned and saw Scorch approach him while holding his arm.

"Scorch?" Tails did as he was told and watched the raccoon step up to the still unscrewed opening. He raised back his now glowing claws and slashed the opening apart. Tails watched in pure awe as the reinforced steel completely broke apart and fell to the ground.

"Shall we leave…buddy." Scorch smiled at Tails for the first time. Tails smiled broadly as the three friends slipped out the back. Scorch took Citrus from Tails and carried him in his arms.

"Is he going to be okay?" The fox asked.

"Oh trust me, he'll be just fine." Scorch answered as he looked at his watch. They were sure lucky to have gotten out of there just 10 seconds away from the blast.

Smoke was trying to focus on searching for the fox but he couldn't see him anywhere with these idiots shooting random blasts at him.

"Come down here and fight us like a real man!" Another guard said. It was right about then when Smoke sensed millions ultraviolet rays heading this way.

"Sorry but I can't stay any longer. It has occurred to me that there is no chaos emerald in here." Smoke shot a blast of smoke at the door, which quickly surrounded it. The smoke induced commander then poofed his way out of there in a flash.

"Where'd he go?" asked one of the guards.

"I don't know. Let's report back to Combustion and tell him what happened here." Said the leader. They all nodded in agreement and walked toward the smoking door. One of them tried to grab it but the smoke repelled the man's hand.

"What's wrong?" asked another guard.

"I don't know! It won't let me grab the doorknob!" Suddenly many huge laser beams crashed through the roof and shot at the generator.

"AHHHHHHHH!" The all yelled in unison knowing exactly what was going to happen.

In Combustion's thrown room

"What's going on? Why aren't those fools back yet?" Combustion tapped his fingers on his desk impatiently when all of a sudden a huge turbulence shook the palace. "What the hell was that?" he asked when suddenly a solider walked in with horrid news.

"Sir…um…I think the mind shuffler just exploded." The guard said while stuttering.

"WHAT!"

I know it's a really long chapter but hey it's been a really long time since I've updated. I last updated back in January right? Again I'm sorry but I'm finally getting a break from my schoolwork so the updates should be much more frequent. I just hope there are still people reading this. Well I'll see.


	23. Chapter 23

_Here is the next chapter. Hope I didn't keep you waiting for to long! _

**Chapter 22: The Extinguished Flame**

"ATTACK!" Sonic shouted as him and the others ran like wild cavemen toward the palace. The huge lasers all popped up but, due to the defense grid being reconfigured, they didn't fire. Instead Sonic and the others all destroyed them.

The kids were all making Indian battle cries as they lashed out at the guards next. The scared, less strong guards tuned to flee. With their lasers un-useable and their supply of black magic destroyed, they were basically wimps.

Each one was easily taken down. Sonic knocked a few heads together and even stomped on their feet just for the satisfaction of seeing them all whine like little babies. Unlike Karst, Combustion had many flaws. Many of his men weren't robots; they were humans, wimpy humans to be exact. Combustion never really fought that much, however he is very strong with or without black magic. Plus, Combustion relied mostly on tricks then pure power. He's very strong, just way too lazy.

Meanwhile Scorch, Citrus (being carried by Scorch) and Tails were headed far from the palace. They made there way toward the hill in front of the area but before they could reach it they stopped. Scorch stopped first and Tails followed his movements.

"What's wrong?" Tails asked.

"…Go. Go toward the palace." Scorch urged.

"W-what?"

"Your friend Sonic needs you. I'll get Citrus to a safe place. Trust me, I'll be alright."

"But…"

"Leave now, before the guards find us. Then all three of us will be in danger."

"…" Tails hesitated then smiled. "Okay. I guess you know what's best." Tails turned toward the palace. It looked as if everything was under control to him. "Are you sure he's in danger?" Tails asked.

"Combustion's men may be weak but Combustion himself is no push over. I doubt Sonic and the others would be able to beat him so easily. The more the merrier after all." Scorch explained.

"I guess you're right. I'm coming Sonic!" Tails said as they parted ways.

"…He's very brave…maybe I should learn to listen to Citrus more often." Scorch mumbled to himself before headed off.

Unknown to them, a familiar figure had listened in on their conversation.

"So the fox boy wants to help his friend eh? I highly doubt a rotting corpse could help anyone in anyway though." SmokeStack said heading after Tails.

_Back at the palace_

The blue blur was having the time of his life…again. Things couldn't get any better for an eleven-year-old searching for adventure. He had taken out an estimate of 400 guards by now.

"Keep fighting! We shall take back this island together!" Sonic shouted to the kids that were with him. The others were off kicking some serious ass. They had all made it inside the perimeter of the huge palace. There was a HUGE amount of guards in there. Everyone of the kids immediately began to tackle them all. Hair was pulled, stomachs were punched, and people were pantsed. Sonic ran around the perimeter taking out as many guards as he could.

"Whoo Hoo!" the blue hedgehog yelled in excitement. None of them noticed the G.U.N ships flying overhead.

"... Target locked… Fire!" stated a G.U.N solder. All activity stopped when a huge missile was shot down into the perimeter and exploded.

Tails heard the explosion far off and immediately sped up. He had to get there quick. The fox immediately twirled his tails to gain sonic speed and blast toward the now smoking palace. Smoke was trailing behind.

"This is bad. THESE guys may be easy to fight but not the G.U.N army." Sonic said worriedly. Suddenly more air ships flew out of the clouds and shot at the G.U.N ships. They were each taken by surprise as a few were taken down. Sonic recognized the ships as their own. He cheered in excitement, as well did the other un-airborne kids, and continued fighting while their ships took care of G.U.N.

Before Sonic could get back to his amazingly fun workout, his shoulder was tapped. Sonic spun around in shock to face the pursuer.

"Oh, hi Tails." Sonic said relaxed again.

"Sonic, look behind you." Tails pointed forward. Sonic turned around and saw Combustion's palace glowing red.

"…You think that might be from a chaos emerald?" Sonic wondered.

"Lets check it out." Tails suggested. As soon as he said that another explosion was heard.

"Okay lets go, quickly!" Sonic grabbed Tails' arm and they both sped through the battleground and toward the enormous palace. Smoke was trailing behind.

It was easy for them to get through but getting inside the palace was a bit of a challenge. It was made of extremely tough reinforced steel. Sonic tried busting through but it was no use.

"Sonic, look!" Tails shouted and pointed above them. There was a window, a regular glass window planted on the wall.

"Wow, Combustion must be really lazy." Sonic stated not impressed with the fire-themed robots' lack of thought. Tails grabbed Sonic this time and flew him up to the window. The fox spun him around a few times then launched him toward it. Sonic burst through the glass and made a beautiful landing. Tails flew in behind him.

They both took a look around and saw that they were on a walkway above a workroom below them. The walkway was sealed up with bars and had no doors to escape (Think a prison cell, a slightly longer prison cell.) The bars kept them from the room below them but they could be easily broken. Sonic chose not to break them, however, for Combustion was at a safe below them.

"Sonic! That's…!" Tails began before Sonic gently shushed him. They watched as Combustion fiddled with the safe's lock, unaware of the smoke literally pouring into the room.

Soon Combustion was finally able to get the safe open. He immediately pulled out a red chaos emerald. Sonic and Tails gasped.

"They may be invading my palace but I'd rather clip Eggman's toe nails then be beaten by a bunch stupid kids!" Combustion shouted.

Sonic and Tails both winced at the thought of them clipping Eggman's toenails. Then they came to a realization.

"Tails, if we get that chaos emerald it will mean one less tool for him to use against us." Sonic said.

"That shinny rock looks a lot like my lucky charm back on Westside Island…only a different color." Tails pointed out.

"Okay, on the count of three we burst through these bars and land in the room below us. Then we snatch the emerald and run off. Got it?"

Tails nodded and prepared to make the jump. Sonic did the same.

"Okay. Ready. One…two…" Sonic began.

"THREE!" Came a voice from behind. Sonic and Tails didn't have time to react before to blast of smoke and a man shot at them and caused them to break through the bars. The three of them landed on the floor below with a loud thud. Combustion was immediately taken a back.

Before Combustion could yell at them for breaking in, Smoke, who had his feet planted on both Sonic and Tails' heads, shot a smoke blast at Combustion. It hit the confused robot against the wall with a loud slam, causing him to drop the emerald.

"You must be Combustion! Damn! You're the reason I'm here. My mission said I had to find and destroy you... and... my mission always comes before personal affairs... so…" Smoke looked down at the dizzy fox his foot was on. "…I guess you got lucky…again." This was even more proof that Smoke was a loyal, honorable man. He wanted to kill Tails more than anything but his missions always come first.

"Really? You were sent to defeat me! Ha! No outsider has even tangled with me and lived to tell the tale!" Combustion shouted then took Smoke by surprise when he lashed out a huge fire blast from his mouth at Smoke. This time Smoke was the one in danger.

Smoke ducked, which caused his hold on Combustion to be undone, and the blast shot at the wall behind him. Combustion directed the fire blast upward and it hit and completely blew off the roof. Black smog immediately filled surrounded the roof. It seemed Combustion had forgotten about the emerald for he left in an instant. Smoke went after him shooting numerous blasts of smoke after him.

Sonic and Tails picked their heads up as soon as they were gone. They immediately began rubbing the back of their heads in pain. Tails shed a few tears but the pain eventually went away.

"Tails, did you see where the emerald landed?" Sonic asked. By this time the smog had made it's way down to them. They could barely see what was in front of them and what was in back.

"No," Tails answered. "But I think it was somewhere close to the door." Tails guessed.

"Where's the door?" Sonic asked waving his hands through the smoke.

"I don't know." Tails did the same thing Sonic was doing.

"Looking for this boys?" A feminine voice from in front of them spoke.

Sonic and Tails both turned to see a red light in front of them. It was in the hands of a familiar white-gloved bat. Soon enough of the smoke withered away to catch a full view of her.

"Rouge!" Sonic yelled.

"Who?" asked Tails.

"This pretty gem will make me happy while I'm trying to bare Smoke's constant whining." The young jewel thief stated as she ran out the door. Sonic tossed Tails a communicator to match the one he had on his wrist then chased after her.

"Sonic, wait!" Tails yelled out.

"Tails! Head for the escape blimp outside. I'm betting its Combustion's. I saw it a while ago. Use it to get to safety. Hurry!" Sonic shouted through Tails' buzzing communicator.

"…Okay Sonic…" Tails was disappointed. He really wanted to help Sonic but so far all he did was toss him through a window and get stepped on. Tails strapped the communicator on his wrist then flew through the open roof. Once outside he saw the blimp Sonic spoke of but it was at a distance. Tails spun his tails and headed straight for it.

_Meanwhile_

Combustion had gotten away from Smoke and stood behind a building sitting in the large perimeter.

"All these intrusions will be the death of me!" Combustion shouted angrily. He had no intention of staying here any longer. He had to get to his escape blimp, which wasn't far off from where he was.

Combustion turned the corner and headed in a forward direction. He turned another corner and spotted his blimp as well as a small yellow-orange figure making it's way inside it.

"So that little poser thinks he can steal my blimp and get away with it huh? We'll just see about that." Combustion pulled out his arm that had a communication device attached to it. "All flight units! Target the blimp, now! Make sure it burns to ashes along with everything inside it!" Combustion shouted. The men on the other side didn't even care why all of a sudden their boss wanted to blow apart their escape blimp in the middle of a losing invasion. They did as they were told and headed out.

_Somewhere else along the perimeter_

"Catch me if you can hedgehog!" Rouge taunted from above as she flew closer to her ship.

"Rouge! Give me back that emerald! I need it!" Sonic sounded irritated.

"Too bad! This baby's coming with little old…" Wham! Rouge wasn't paying attention where she was flying and crashed into Combustion's ship hanger door. Above her the roof opened up and many of Combustion's ships took off toward the blimp in the distance.

Sonic stopped in front of her and gasped. "Oh no! Tails!" Sonic started up his communicator and shouted into it. "Tails! You're about to come under fire! Get to the ship's turret and stay alert." The blue hedgehog stated then ran up to Rouge.

"Shows over! Give me the emerald!" Sonic shouted.

Rouge pouted but didn't give him the emerald. Before Sonic could take it they were both struck by a huge fireball. They both fell back and that's when Rouge dropped the emerald. The smirking Combustion picked up the emerald and tossed it up and down in front of their faces.

"Damn!" Sonic mumbled.

_Back on the blimp_

Tails' communicator went off again. He heard Sonic's voice.

"_Tails! You're about to come under fire! Get to the ship's turret and stay alert."_

The fox's ears shot up and he immediately headed for the turret Sonic spoke of.

"This gun thing is the turret, right?" Tails asked himself. He didn't have time to figure it out for the blimp he was in immediately rocked wildly. He had just been fired at. Tails looked forward and saw many of Combustion's ships heading toward him. "Uh oh." Tails said as he began searching for a way to work the turret.

More shots were fired as Tails continued searching. He then found a two red buttons on the tip of the gun turret's handles. Tails pressed them both at the same time, which caused red blasts to fire out of the turret and destroy two ships.

"…COOL!" Tails said happily. He had the feeling he was going to like this battle a lot! The excited 4-year-old fox grabbed the controls and started firing wildly at the ships. Many were destroyed one by one and eventually the solders thought that it might be a good idea to retreat. Only a few made it out of there without at least getting their ship's tail pipe blown off.

"Don't mess with Sonic's really smart brother!" Tails spat his tongue out at the cowardly guards.

_Meanwhile below the blimp_

Smokestack ran toward the area where he last saw Combustion. No dice. He wasn't anywhere in sight.

"Damn you!" Smoke said before he heard a voice from above.

"Don't mess with Sonic's really smart brother!" Came a familiar squealing voice. Smoke looked up and saw Combustion's blimp.

"There! So, Combustion is trying to escape eh?" Said Smoke completely ignoring how high pitched and childish the voice he heard was. The angry G.U.N general pointed his hand up at the blimp and shot a huge smoke projectile at it. Tails didn't notice he had been fired at until the smoke wad shot through the balloon part of the blimp.

"Oh no!" Tails yelled as he struggled to turn on his communicator. He was going down; headed straight for Combustion's ship hanger. "Sonic!" Tails shouted in the communicator not knowing it had been damaged when the fireball struck Sonic earlier.

"Sonic! Come quick! I'm going down! I've been hit by something! Sonic! Sonic…!"

_At Combustion's ship hanger_

"You and your 'Care bear' looking friends just don't know when to put a lid on it. They think they can take back their island, sheesh! Talk about false hope!" Combustion laughed.

"Shut up! Leave now before I get all Super Sonic on your ass!" Said a clearly ticked off Sonic.

"Eww! You don't know how wrong that sounded! Look kid, you might want to save your 'gay sex quotes' for the New York Times my friend." He could hear Sonic growl under his teeth. Combustion continued. "You know why? Because, guess what! I ain't leaving! You can kill my guards. You can destroy my palace. You can get rid of my black magic but no matter what you do…"

Combustion made a chair made completely out of fire and sat down on it with his legs crossed. "…I am not moving from this spot!" He concluded while grinning.

"You may wanna re-think that!" Rouge shouted as she pointed up at a blimp headed straight for them!

"What the hell!" Shouted a surprised Combustion as the blimp crashed into the ship hanger. The explosion that followed was so massive that it created a huge hole in the concrete and everyone there fell through. They all landed hard and they stayed on the ground for a few minutes until someone took action.

"Ohhhh, my head!" Rouge moaned rubbing her scalp.

"S-Sonic! Are you down here! I though I saw you before I crashed!" Tails said getting out of the blimps destroyed cockpit.

"Tails! Is that you?" Sonic said getting out from under some rubble. He headed over to his fox friend and they both hugged on instinct. When they stopped they took a good look at their surroundings. Flames shot out of the walls and from the ground. The ground they were standing on was black and ashy, and the room was filled with busted up metal and boulders. Sonic turned to Tails and smiled.

"Nice crash." Sonic complemented. Tails replied with a cheek-to-cheek smile. Rouge rolled her eyes.

"Awe, isn't that cute." Mocked an unforgettable voice. All three of them faced their front and saw lava shoot up from the ground. The lava collected together and re-shaped itself into Combustion.

"I **HATE CUTE**! OH, YOU'RE **DEFIDENTLY** IN FOR IT NOW! **HEDGEHOG!**" Combustion raised his arms and a flaming barrier covered the hole at the top and their only exit. Sonic, Tails, and Rouge got into their battle stances. Tails' sweat did drop however, from nervousness and from this heat!

Combustion didn't hesitate to launch himself at the three. All three jumped when he came near. The fire themed half-robot made himself halt to fire a large blast at them. The three separated. Sonic ran across the wall and dodged the numerous blasts being fired his way. Combustion sure was fast! Eventually Sonic made a miscalculation and ended up getting nailed in the back. The hedgehog fell off the wall and rolled a bit until screeching to a stop.

"Now, FEEL THE **HEAT!" **Combustion was about ready to blast Sonic into oblivion when Rouge swooped down and stared to make numerous swipes at him with her feet. Combustion dodged each attack with ease then grabbed her leg, twirled her around, and tossed her at the wall. "Hmph! That's it!" Combustion turned to where he last saw Sonic but the hedgehog was no longer there.

"W-where'd that little brat go!"

"Up here!" Sonic shouted as his feet slammed on Combustion's head. Sonic then jumped off and did a homing attack at Combustion's chest. The robot flew back a bit but turned out to be all right.

That was when Combustion caught sight of the red chaos emerald. He immediately ran for it but missed it when the brave two-tailed fox swooped down and grabbed it.

"You!" Combustion shouted firing blasts at the fox. Tails, not-easily, dodged them all and gave the emerald to Sonic. He then landed beside him and they both got into fighting positions again. Sonic, Tails, and Combustion began fighting all across the area until they seperated from each other again. Combustion raised his hand in the air.

"Take this!" Four meteors formed in the area and began shooting out smaller meteors with flames on them at the two brothers. Sonic and Tails found it VERY difficult to get past them all, even with the chaos emerald in hand. A few meteors hit them but just barely enough for them to not get a serious injury. What made it more difficult was that Combustion snapped a few flames at them while they were dodging as well.

During the bombardment Sonic managed to make it to Combustion. However, Combustion immediately summoned a lava shield to protect him. He had it all figured out. Rouge, however, did too. While they fought, she grabbed one of the meteors and gave it a swift kick. The meteor shot like a projectile straight at Combustion. When it hit the lava shield the shield disappeared.

"Huh? Hey! Who threw that!" Combustion shouted as he turned around. Big mistake. Sonic took his opportunity and began to strike hard at Combustion. The robot had no time to react as the swift kicks were delivered monstrously. Tails saw it as his chance to help so he got up and helped Sonic take on Combustion, as did Rouge.

"…Get off…GET OFF!" Combustion shouted and an explosion of flames sent the three flying against the wall. "How dare you 'think' you can just take advantage over me like that!

"Yeah! Well we'll do it again, you big bully!" Tails shouted getting up. Rouge and Sonic, however, were still hurting.

"Excuse me? Are you saying that an injured hedgehog and bat are going to fight me?" Combustion chuckled. Tails looked at his pain stricken friends and then turned back to face Combustion.

"W-well then…'gulp' I'll fight you!' Tails really regretted saying that.

"YOU! HAHAHAHAHA…" Combustion started laughing to a seemingly no end. Tails immediately took the opportunity to charge at Combustion and gave him a fair kick in the head. Combustion's head cocked back for a second then leaned forward again.

_'Ummm…okay that didn't work…MAN it's hot in this place!'_ Tails thought while wiping the beads of sweat from his head.

"What's the matter? Can't stand the heat? Ha! Ha! I'd say the next part but why waste my time. A stupid brat like you wouldn't get it. You're all stupid, idiotic, false hope teetering brats! You should've left while I was feeling lazy, but now, I'll make a flaming coat out of you!" Combustion fired another flame at Tails, which he dodged then flew behind one of the three remaining meteors.

"Heh, heh! Nice hiding spot." Combustion joked.

'_I need to think of something. But what?' _Tails peeked from behind the meteor and caught sight of an intact engine from one of the ships. Chemicals were pouring out of the two ships next to it. Tails thought for a moment. _'The flames Combustion's emitting aren't regular. They might even be encased with black magic even though the generator supply was destroyed. If that's true then I need to get him to touch those chemicals. Who knows what might happen if he tags it. But how do I do that though?'_ Tails was a surprisingly good thinker for a 4-year-old. He was feeling pretty proud of himself.

"Okay, enough games! I'll send you to HELL!" He shouted as he pointed his fist at the irregularly sized meteor. Tails quickly slammed his feet on the meteor's back and shot it at Combustion the same exact time he fired his fire blasts. The meteor collided with the blast and was sustained in mid-air.

"What the? What is this?" Combustion was having trouble pushing the meteor back. He didn't know that at that exact moment Tails had been given a little strength from the kitsune within.

Tails then ran behind a meteor positioned behind Combustion and shot that one at him too. The second meteor hit his feet and knocked him backward. The meteor Tails kicked before then jetted forward and struck Combustion's head before he hit the ground. The robot flew backward into the exact spot where Tails saw the chemicals. Tails landed on his feet then hid behind the last meteor while the other two crashed and broke apart. He then ran to Sonic.

"Sonic! Are you alright!?" The fox asked.

"Y-yeah. I'm okay…what's that behind you!?" Sonic shouted. Tails turned around and saw Combustion standing up…but his fire was gone. The chemicals were sparking and soon they let out a huge eruption of energy.

"You fool! Do you know what you've just done!?" Combustion shouted. Tails honestly didn't know.

"My flame power combined with those chemicals created…" Combustion didn't even get to finish before a huge red black hole opened up behind them. "…It created a fire vortex! My flames aren't regular flames you know! You idiot! You've doomed us all! I'm going to…!" Combustion didn't finish for his leg was immediately ripped apart from his body and sent into the vortex.

"Ah!" Combustion shouted as more of his parts were ripped off and sucked in the vortex by its fierce power. "No! I cannot lose! Not to the plan of a 4-year-old brat! You're all imbeciles! Idiots! Every last one of…" Combustion was immediately silenced when he head was ripped into pieces and sent into the vortex.

"Uh-oh." Tails said while grabbing Sonic(who still clutched the choas emerald) and Rouge(who was still staring at the emerald). "The vortex looks like it's going to suck up the whole island!" Tails grabbed the two and headed for the top opening, which was void of Combustion's flames now that he was dead. Tails flew out and headed for the perimeter to warn the others. He didn't even look back to see the entire remains of the blimp already sucked in.

_Phew! That took me awhile! Hope you enjoyed it! Next chapter is coming up! Review please!_


	24. Chapter 24

_The reason why this took so long is because I typed up about the first half of it, saved it, then turned off the computer. When I got back on to finish it the whole thing was somehow deleted. So I had to start all over again. My spirit was crushed at first but then I said, "Ah well, it's really not that big a deal." I'm going to try and make this one a long one._

**Chapter 23: The war has begun!**

The scared two-tailed toddler flew across the blood red sky in a terrifying rush. The vortex had taken out a large sum of Combustion's destroyed base camp and was now headed for the perimeter. Tails knew he had to save all the kids. If he didn't he would not only have let Scorch and Citrus down but he would've let Sonic down as well.

Tails looked down at the half-conscious hedgehog hanging in between his armpit. He looked as if he knew what was going on but didn't have the strength to speak up. Rouge had already fainted during flight. Tails had no thoughts about her yet.

Eventually Tails made it to the perimeter and stopped in mid-flight. The fox was so scared of the upcoming doom he had thought of skipping the perimeter and getting himself to safety for a second. It was a second that seemed last a minute long, however. The fox would've cursed himself for thinking this way if he knew any curse words or if he was mean enough to use them.

"Hey!" Tails shouted at the kids putting the finish blows on the most likely unconscious guards. They all acted as if they had not heard him. They didn't.

"We have to get out of here!" Tails shouted in another wasted attempt. It was no use. His voice was too small and immature to be heard from a distance. He had thought of going down there and telling them face-to-face but there were simply too many people making a large amount of noise. Their noise almost matched that of the vortex.

"Awe man! They can't hear me! What am I going to do!?" Tails shouted while getting ready to clutch his head in frustration when he remembered he was still holding onto Sonic and Rouge. Instead the fox began to pout and whimper in tear jerking frustration.

That's when he heard that awful voice again.

"Well, well, well. It seems you have incased yourself in a dilemma." Came the voice.

"…D-Darkness?" Tails recognized that voice from his dream. The dream where he was made to kill all those innocent people for the sake of playful satisfaction. The dream where he caught a glimpse of his incredibly bleak future. The dream where he saw his best friend Sonic take the form of a rotting corpse.

The dream when he woke up with blood on his hands.

"The very same." Darkness answered Tails. He wasn't in clear sight but instead was only heard in Tails' head.

"W-what d you want?"

"I simply want what the creature stationed within you wants. Why do you choose to hold it back Miles? If you would just gave in to your true nature than you wouldn't be caught in a situation such as this. You have a perfect opportunity to escape but you refuse to for the sake of those who will eventually die. How foolish indeed."

"B-but I can't leave." Tails was afraid. He was afraid more than before. "They-they're all my friends."

"Pitiful. As the future kitsune and might I add the strongest to date you cannot let yourself by taken on by such unnecessary emotions. If so, it will surly mean your demise."

"…Unnecessary emotions? I don't get it?"

"Your good side doesn't get it. However, the kitsune side sees it as an important lifelong rule one is born with. Throughout life you cannot rely on your emotions. Doing what you want by them is not only weak but if jeopardizes your life as well. Take the situation your in for example."

"…" Tails didn't want to admit it but he had a point.

"Your emotions are weak. They are misguided and misleading tools one most not use. Protect no one but yourself. Love no one but yourself. Respect no one but yourself. Fore, if you care for anyone but yourself you will be mislead to the point of death. This is why emotions are unnecessary."

Throughout the whole time they were talking the vortex was advancing closer. Tails, however, was thinking about the words Darkness had said. They rung in his ear back and forth and side to side before finally Tails snapped out of it.

"…I…I don't believe you." He said in a clearly unsure voice. "I'm going to save my friends no matter what! I'll even use my kitsune power if I have too!"

"Well, if you think you can…"

"Give me my kitsune power now!" Tails shouted shockingly. Tails couldn't see it but Darkness was taken a back. Tails grew worried when the realization of what he just said sunk in. There was a short moment of silence before Darkness responded.

"Powerful words Miles. Very well…" Darkness merely said then vacated himself from Tails' head. Tails felt nothing at first but then he saw a purple aurora slowly begin to form around his body. He looked down and to his surprise but eternal relief he saw all the kids leaving. They looked as if they had all seen a terrifying monster. It wasn't a monster but it was close. Instead they had all caught a glimpse of the vortex as it burst through the perimeter sucking everything insight into its endless pit.

"Awe man. I need to hurry and get Sonic and this bat lady to safety." Tails had been scared the whole time. This was too much responsibility for one 4-year-old to take. He needed to save everyone though and he needed to do it before he turned into a complete kitsune.

Tails spun his tails even faster then jetted across the sky toward the hill where Scorch and the still unconscious Citrus were. Tails flew past all the fleeing kids and eventually made it to Scorch's location.

Scorch sat there with Citrus wondering how long his friend would be out until he saw something coming at him from a distance. The figure stopped and hovered over his head before coming down quickly.

"T-Tails?" the raccoon asked. He was getting a bad vibe from Tails. This was an unusually uncomfortable one as well.

The fox landed, his fur flickering from orange to black slowly, and dropped Sonic and Rouge on the ground. He didn't even bother to set them down gently. Scorch was about to tap Tails' shoulder to see if he was okay when without warning the fox bolted around to face him himself.

"S-Scorch. The others…they're down there…please save them…" Tails pleaded as the last shred off his original form withered away. The fox shot himself up from the ground and clutched his head, as if he were struggling. It wasn't good enough though. His fur turned black, his eyes turned blood red, and the violet aurora grew strong around his body.

"...Heh heh heh...it's time to end this." Kitsune Tails said with an evil grin. Without even the slightest hesitation Tails took off straight for the vortex.

Scorch watched in amazement as Tails flew off, not even noticing the large blue cat with a fishing pole strapped to his back and a frog on his shoulder sneak up from behind and make off with Rouge. Scorch eventually shook himself out of it and jumped off the hill to help the others make it to safety.

Meanwhile, Tails chuckled horrendously as he flew toward the vortex and stopped only a few feet away from it. Large towers and enormous debris were all being sucked into the vortex without much trouble. Tails, however, stayed in his stationary position.

"Bring it on! I'm game for some excitement." Tails clenched his fists and let his huge power erupt throughout his body. Then he drew himself back and lunged forward, straight into the vortex.

It was as if he were a speeding bullet flying 100 times faster than usual as he made his way inside. Tails knew there was no end to it so he stopped at a location he saw fit and then raised his hands.

"Let's see what you've got." Tails smirked as he let the power surge take place once again. This time it flew throughout the vortex and even caused it to become disrupted.

Scorch had gotten everyone up the hill by now but he was still worried about the vortex and Tails for that matter. All of a sudden he saw a purple outline form around the vortex as it began to twitch. It started to look as if the vortex was collapsing in on itself.

It was.

Soon the vortex enclosed completely leaving nothing but a small violet light. The light soon started moving and forming into something. It soon reshaped itself into the still hyperactive and grinning kistune.

Tails floated there with a slightly disappointed look on his face.

"Shoot. Was that it? That was one weak vortex." Tails then redirected his attention to the kids standing on the hill. "Looks like there is still some business to be taken care of." He said as he was readying himself to charge at the kids. All of a sudden he felt an invisible force hold him back.

"No." He said in his original voice. "I can't…not to them…" With that Tails reverted back to normal and fell toward the ground and landed with a thud.

"Huh? Tails?" Came Sonic's reforming voice. The blue hedgehog had picked himself up, with Scorch's help, and saw Tails spiral into the dry dirt. Sonic and Scorch immediately ran toward the fox to see if he had been injured. Scorch rolled Tails onto his back then sat him up right. Tails was awake.

"Are you alright Tails?" Sonic asked in a worried tone.

"…Sonic…yeah…I'm alright…" Tails hesitated. Sonic noticed this.

"Hey! Scorch! Sonic! Tails! Come see!" shouted one of the kids on the hill. All three of them looked up and saw him point toward the sky. The three got up and ran up the hill for a better look. They were amazed at what was taking place.

The sky opened up and the blood red color it had was dissipating. Everyone stared in awe, as that weren't the only thing changing. The ground grew moist again and the grass began growing back to its original state.

The first sunlight some of these kids haven't seen in years or even at all in their lifetime shot beautiful rays down at the island.

The trees all became alive again and the leaves all reformed. All traces of Combustion's presence withered away. The perimeter walls, the broken debris, everything that belonged to that horrid half-robot vanished.

Soon the blue sky was visible again. Not only that but they were now all surrounded by the beautiful and luminous blue-green ocean once again.

"Whoa! I-I can't believe it! Our island…it's back to it' original state!" Scorch said excitedly.

"Of coarse…with Combustion gone…our freedom now returns…" Came a familiar voice below him.

"Citrus?" Scorch asked surprised. "Your awake? Your awake!"

"Of coarse I'm awake. Did you think I was dead or something? I feel insulted." Citrus said not getting up, for he was still in pain.

"…Of coarse I knew you'd wake up!" Scorch said turning toward the ocean. He didn't even try to hide the tears flowing down his resentful face. "Damn it." He muttered not wiping them away for fear of being noticed. A few people had noticed, but not everyone.

"Wow. This place is so beautiful now!" Sonic said as he looked around the resurfaced original form of the island.

"What are you guys going to call it now that it's back to normal?" Asked a curious Tails.

"What it used to be called before Combustion invaded." Citrus said in a happy tone. Scorch finally summoned up the courage to wipe his tears and turn to Citrus.

"You still remember what it was called before Combustion invaded?" He asked.

"Of coarse. The island shall be called…Corolla Isle… once again." Citrus said in a satisfied voice.

"Wait, I remember that now." Scorch said truthfully.

"Well that's great," Sonic began. "But how are me and Tails going to get off this island?" Sonic asked.

"Hey, Sonic! Look!" Tails shouted pointed in a direction opposite of the ocean. There, sitting still in the grass was their biplane. It looked extremely well polished and it looked as if it was literally brand new. Sonic's jaw hung open.

"The Tornado!" Sonic shouted with excitement.

"The Tornado II!" Corrected Tails.

"Oh, right, after all you did give it that suit new paint job." Sonic said as he watched Tails make his way toward the biplane and jump inside. He figured it must have been fixed up during the island's rebirth.

"You're leaving? Already?" Citrus asked.

"Yeah, we kinda need to get going. Sorry." Sonic explained.

"Don't apologize, just say goodbye." Citrus smiled. Sonic nodded, rushed to the plane and jumped inside.

"Goodbye everyone!" Both Sonic and Tails shouted then started up the biplane using the keys that were already in the socket. Once the plane was up and running they moved across the grass and took off into the sky. The looked back and saw everyone waving and saying goodbye. They waved back then continued flying toward the next area.

"Go…try to hide from your destiny…but by tonight…regardless of how much you care for that hedgehog or anyone else…you will be a full fledge kitsune…and you will kill him for me…just like all the others…" Darkness muttered and headed for Eggman's fortress.

_At Eggman's flying fortress_

"Dr. Eggman! Dr. Eggman! I've got urgent news from that scary Darkness guy!" Bokkun shouted as he made his way into Eggman's control room.

"Yeah, what is it?" Eggman looked bored.

"You're not going to believe this but…"

_Later in the discussion room_

"Alright everyone listen up!" Eggman shouted from across the table where everyone sat at. The first commander Igneous Rock sat at the far end of the table. The second commander Karst Ice sat on the left. Hang Nail, the newest commander, sat on the right and next to him was a quiet Metal Sonic, a commander as well. Bocoe and Decoe stood in the corner and listened in on their conversation.

"What's this all about Eggman?" Karst asked curiously.

"Well, it seems from recently acquired information that the 3rd commander Combustion Fire has been eliminated from our ranks. Apparently he was killed." Eggman explained.

The room was silent.

"I don't understand." Igneous spoke up. "Combustion was a lazy fool who never fought much. I guess he decided he wasn't going to do anything when those two twerps challenged him and got killed off." Igneous suggested.

"Sorry, but your wrong…" Eggman started.

"As always." Karst said referring to Igneous.

"No, he was killed in a full scale battle with Sonic and the fox. Right, Bokkun?" Eggman asked.

"Uh-huh. That's what Darkness told me." Bokkun answered.

"Now, I suppose you all realize how big of a dent is put into our plan." Eggman stated.

"Oh please, we don't need a lazy fool like him when you've got a half-robot with large muscles like me!" Igneous shouted.

"Shut up Igneous!" Karst said quickly and to the point.

"Don't call me Igneous. You shall refer to me, as 'He who smoke's bitches'."

"…What?!"

"You heard me!" Igneous shouted. "WHAAA!" The golden robot yelled then shot a blast at the wall. "WHOOO HOOOO!!! Smoked that bitch!" He yelled in excitement as the small hole in the small sent out a trail of smoke.

"Igneous! Settle down now!" Eggman shouted. The robot slumped in his chair. "We need to focus here! Now, the main point of my plan is to get the fox to coordinates 000 as quickly as possible." Eggman stated.

"As quickly as possible?" asked Karst.

"Yes, our allotted time is varied to say the least." Eggman said.

"How varied we talk' in?" Hang Nail asked.

"…We have until tonight."

Everyone almost fell out of their seat except Metal Sonic.

"To-to-to-to-to-to-to-to-tonight! You want us to get him their tonight!" Igneous shouted surprised.

"I know it's not much time but that's when the 'fate rising' begins." Eggman reasoned. "I also wish to start a war with G.U.N and get them out of my way before it begins." Eggman stated. "Bokkun! My map!"

The hovering child gave Eggman a map that was clutched in his hands. Eggman then set the map over the table and began putting red markers on key areas.

"Now, Sonic and Tails, by what Darkness told Bokkun, are headed east. East of the island they just left is a large zone known as 3-way villa. 3-way villa is a triple climate zone that holds coordinates 000 at the far end of it. The first climate there is the desert region. The next is the ice cap region. And the final one is the green hill region." Eggman explained.

Everyone leaned in closer for a better look.

"Now for the plan. Bokkun, I want you to go to the G.U.N base in the leaf forest and tell Smokestack that if he wants revenge on the fox then he should head to coordinate 000 by tonight, understood." Eggman directed.

"Understood." Bokkun said while saluting.

"Very good. Next, after Smokestack leaves, Igneous, I want you to take 1/3 of my entire fleet and destroy all the surrounding G.U.N bases and base camps."

"Cool! I get to blow stuff up!" Igneous cheered.

"Karst, I want you to take another 1/3 of my fleet and head for the green hill region of 3-way villa where Sonic and Tails are sure to be headed. Do not attack the village, instead ride down and capture the fox then bring him and the ships to the ice cap zone of 3-way villa."

"Yes sir." Karst answered.

"Hang Nail, You will take the last remaining 1/3 of my fleet and attack the village in the green hill zone. There, you will meet up with the 4th commander and destroy everything in sight. Got it."

"Sweet! Wait a minute, you said Karst is going to capture Tails?" Hang Nail asked.

"Yes, is this a problem?"

"…No." Hang Nail said disappointingly. _'Damn! I was hoping I'd get to have a rematch with ol' two-tail again. Oh well, I'm sure we'll meet again, and the next time we do I'll be sure to tear him apart just for Slips and Silt.' _Hang Nail thought.

"Slips…Silt…" Hang Nail said silently. It should've pained him to be working for the man who had killed his comrades but it didn't. Eggman told Hang Nail he attacked the island because of Tails. So, in light of this news, Hang Nail decided to take out all his anger against Tails instead of Eggman.

"Wait another minute!" Igneous shouted. "Did you say the 4th commander? The 4th commander as in Strobe lightning! As in the do nothing bad at all, goodie two shoes! That 4th commander! HA!"

"Yes he may not like being evil, Igneous, but I have control over his will. He'll do whatever I want despite how strong his will is." Eggman reassured. "Anywho, back to business. Igneous, once all the surrounding G.U.N bases have been destroied head as fast as you can toward the desert region of 3-way villa. If anyone should survive Hang Nail and Strobe's attack on the village I want you to stop them in their tracks and kill them, since that's the only way they can go if they somehow manage to escape."

"It is?" Igneous asked.

"Yes, any other direction leads to a dead end or the water. Now, as for Karst, I want you to wait there with the fox until Metal Sonic comes there and gives you the signal." Eggman explained.

Metal Sonic perked his head slightly up at the mention of his name.

"What's the signal?" Karst asked.

"Metal Sonic is the signal himself. Once he gets there you and him will take the fox to coordinate 000 where I will be headed. Then contact Igneous, Hang Nail, and Strobe and tell them to join you there. Then all we have to do is wait for the 'fate rising' to take place. I'll implant a chip in the fox before he transforms completely, which will make him recognize me as his master. Then we go on and concur the rest of the world!"

Everyone stayed silent for a minute or two until Karst spoke up.

"Pardon my asking Eggman but isn't this plan a bit far fetched. Most of this plan is purely based on chance. Having it go the exact way you plan will be difficult." Karst said.

Eggman sat there thinking.

"It's just too hard!" Karst shouted.

"That's what-" Igneous began.

"If you say 'That's what she said' one more time I swear I'm going to kill you!" Karst referred to the fact that Igneous had said it 12 times before the conversation began. He was in no mood for Igneous' childish nature right now.

Igneous slumped in his chair, pulled out a beer, and chucked it down.

"…It's all in the prophecy Karst…it _will_ happen." Eggman stated.

"But…"

"This discussion is over. The war must begin, now!" Eggman was getting impatient. Karst silently scuffed at Eggman, got up and left.

"Who does that groton retch think he is?" Karst huffed in anger. For a long time now he had wanted to get his hands around that man's neck. He, however, had no more chaos emeralds. He needed more. Karst had an even bigger grudge against Metal Sonic. He hated him ever since Eggman took him out of his pod. They way he acted was not only distrubing but it insulted his own nature. He was always so quiet. It sickened him. He had to make it his number one priority to kill that metal monstrosity.

Igneous got up next. "Well, if it's any consolation I believe this plan will work all the way. Bye bitches!" Igneous walked out of the room in order to prepare his 3rd of the fleet.

Hang Nail stood up next and walked out thinking about the situation. "Hmm…maybe when we're all heading to coordinates 000 I can fight two-tail." He also thought about that Smokestack guy Eggman mentioned. "Smokestack…is he that guy that used to collect money from Bear Mayor at Westside Island."

Hang Nail turned around to face Eggman. "Hey Eggman, is Smokestack the dude who killed Bear Mayor." Hang Nail asked.

"…Yes…I believe so." Eggman hesitated.

"Oh…okay thanks." Hang Nail turned back around and walked out. "That guy…he's the same one who asked me to lead him to homeless two tail. I remember how scary his face and the way he spoke to me was. I bet he's still looking for two-tail. Well, if he thinks he's gett'in to two tail before me he's dream' in." He stopped and thought for a second. "Slips…Silt…I promise I carve out that fox's heart."

Metal Sonic got up next. He said nothing as he left.

Bokkun stretched himself out, yawned, and scratched his backside. "I'll go deliver that Smoke guy the message."

"Be quick about it." Eggman said as he got up. All of a sudden he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around and saw Bocoe and Decoe with their hands in a pleading position.

"Hey, Eggman. Why don't you give us a mission to do." Asked Decoe.

"… Because I'm smarter than the average bear." Eggman said then walked out.

"Hmph! Who does he think he is?" Asked Bocoe.

"Yeah! We can do…stuff…like…uh…damn it!" Decoe said frustrated.

"We'd better hurry and catch up with Eggman." Bocoe said and they both left leaving the room completely empty.

_At the Leaf forest base_

"Ugh…w-what…where am I?" Rouge asked.

"Your awake!" Big shouted excitedly.

"Ribbit!" Froggy said excitedly.

"Hey…uh…" Rouge tried to recall what she was doing before she passed out. "Wait a minute! My emerald!" Rouge had the red chaos emerald in her hands then the blue hedgehog got in her way and ruined it all. She flung herself up in anger.

"What is it?" Big asked.

"…We still have the purple emerald, right?" Rouge asked. Big reached behind him and pulled out the emerald and showed it to her. Rouge sighed in relief. She knew Sonic had the red emerald now but at least she still had hers.

She looked around the area she was in and saw that she was back in Smokestack's commissioning room in the Leaf forest base. She got up from her chair and looked around for Smoke.

"Smokestack's outside if you want him." Big stated. Rouge nodded then flew out to meet him. When she looked around she saw him talking with his troops about the previous mission.

"Look, I don't care how dangerous it is! Someone is coming with me or they're fired!" Smoke shouted. Rouge flew over to meet up with him and the scared troops. There was also another person there that she didn't recognize. It was a little floating black kid with green eyes and a confused looking face.

"Hey Smoke! What's up?!" Rouge shouted.

"Shut up slut!" Smoke shouted angrily.

"I'm not old enough to be a slut yet." She protested while chuckling. "Who's this kid?" Rouge said referring to the hovering black kid.

"That's Bokkun. He said that Eggman says my revenge is waiting for me at coordinates 000. None of these losers want to go with me because it's one of the most dangerous and condemned places on the planet."

"…Okay…isn't that a reasonable reason not to go." Rouge asked.

"Yes, for a regular person. However, these are my solders. They'll go where I tell them!"

"Okay, okay, you know what, you don't need all of them, right?" Rouge asked while waving her hands around.

"No, just about two. However, none of these pussies want to go!"

"It's not a scheduled mission, though." One of the solders spoke up.

"This is your personal affair. Since there isn't any work to be done we think we should take a break." Another solder said.

"Ugh!" Smoke said even more frustrated.

"Hey, it's okay you guys, you have your little break." Rouge stated. "Me, Big, and Froggy will go with Smoke to this coordinates place, okay."

Smoke raised his eyebrow.

"Bokkie, you tell ol' Eggie we're on our way, okay?" Rouge said to Bokkun.

"Okay sure." Bokkun said taking off.

"Well Smoke?" Rouge said while Big and Froggy came up to them from behind.

"…Sure…why not." Smoke agreed.

_Meanwhile _

Eggman watched as all his fleet ships took off and smiled anxiously as his flying fortress headed for coordinates 000.

"Everything will go exactly according to plan. I know it will…" Eggman said under his breath.

"Are you sure doctor?" Decoe asked a bit worried.

"Things are really started to get tense." Bocoe said.

"…Hmmm." Eggman began thinking. _'Darkness, Bear Mayor, Smokestack, and me had an alliance once. It was all shattered when Bear Mayor was killed by Smoke. It's every man for himself now.'_

_At a local G.U.N base_

Everyone screamed in terror and ran away in confusion as numerous missiles were fired at them. The ship hangers and escape routes were all destroyed so no one could get away or launch a counter attack.

"Sir! There is no way out! We're doomed!" A solder yelled frighteningly as he ran into the main cabin of the base.

"Damn it! How'd this happen! Quickly! We need to contact the other bases so we can-" The general began but never got to finish when a large bombardment of robots crashed through the roof, landed and shot at all the remaining solders.

"Hahahahaha! Your not going to contact anyone loser!" Igneous Rock said as he jumped down into the base. He then walked toward the phone the dead general was going to pick up and picked it up himself. He then turned to the other robots in the room.

"Hey guys, I'm going to prank call Hanna Verboom and scare the crap out of her." Igneous laughed. The other robots started to chuckle. Igneous dialed the number and waited for her to pick up. When she did he chuckled slightly then began speaking to her.

"Hello." She said.

"_Helloooo_." Igneous said in a ghost like voice. He knew this got her worried.

"…W-who is this?" she asked.

"Hey, I know a while a go you stared in a movie called Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo. THAT WAS A PIECE OF CRAP!!! MWUHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

"I'm hanging up!" She shouted in fear then hung up while Igneous and the robots continued laughing.

_Meanwhile on a small boat toward the desert region in 3-way villa_

Knuckles and Amy sailed toward the zone with caution. They had gathered information on the kitsune subject at numerous libraries and museums and were ready to take action.

"Are you sure Sonic's here?" Amy asked.

"If he gathered the right info than he should be." Knuckles tried to reassure.

"That's not good enough!" Amy shouted.

"Get off my damn back woman! If he's not here than that's a good thing!"

"Why is that?"

"Because the 'fate rising' begins tonight if what we, uh, I studied was correct. He's going to bring Tails with him wherever he goes so it would be a good idea to keep them away from that place."

"Oh…okay."

"However, that's not to say it can't still happen if he is away from there. We don't entirely know how this system works."

"…What do you mean what _you_ studied? I helped too!"

"Oh please, let's not do this!" Knuckles protested.

"Come on Knuckles! Admit it! I helped!"

"Yeah, where would I be if you didn't spend half my money on new worthless pink boots your not even wearing? I'd probably be 50 bucks richer."

"Of coarse I'm not wearing them now. I don't want to get them dirty."

"Hmph! Women!"

"What was that!?"

"You owe me 50 bucks, bitch!" Knuckles said angrily earning him a whack on the head with Amy's hammer.

"Ah! Damn it! What's that thing made of, pieces of your thick skull?" Knuckles was hit again. "OW! Stop it! Damn! That hurts! Damn it!" He wined.

The desert region they were headed toward drew even closer. All of Darkness' pawns were in place.

"Now…let the fun begin." Darkness scowled as he sat alone

_Tails will learn the truth about his past very soon. The story of how the first kitsune was created will be revealed. All of Eggman's commanders will take on their toughest missions. Darkness' plan will soon come together. We are entering the final battles. I will update soon everyone. Review please._


	25. Chapter 25

I AM SO FREAKIN SORRY! I've been gone for so freaking long I'm no longer considering myself reliable in the hands of the Sonic fan fiction kingdom! I can explain though! MY HORRIBLE COMPUTER SUCKS!!! For some retarded reason my computer doesn't allow me to enter It's like the only website it won't accept. So I had no choice but to wait for a new computer because my parents wouldn't allow me to use theirs. Eventually my brother got a computer that allowed fan fiction to go through and I'm borrowing his computer. So here I am! Hope you all aren't to mad that I was gone so long. I really REALLY wanted to update too! If you all don't remember what took place during the course of the story then you might want to skim through the other chapters for a refresher.

**Chapter 24: The Lightning Theme**

Smokestack stared out into the open air through the window of his ship. The message Bokkun had delivered to him still rampaged through his mind. So much so that he barely noticed the jewel thief tapping his shoulder from behind. However, when he finally did he decided to respond.

"What?" He asked his voice full of noticeable malice. Malice towards what, Rouge really didn't know.

"You know as a professional jewel thief and a 13-year-old sex icon it has come to my attention that throughout this entire scandal it has never been clear as to how you could hate such a cutie pie like Tails." Rouge pointed out.

Besides Big and Froggy's snoring in the back seat the cockpit appeared to have all of a sudden stricken with silence. After about a minute of tension Smoke eventually answered.

"… Have you ever heard of the Diox Clan?"

_Meanwhile at the 3-way villa – Green Hill zone- 5:00 am_

Tails flew the borrowed biplane across the ocean contemplating the situation they were in. The fox felt a horrible feeling in his chest. It was a feeling that he had felt before; one that told him something terrible was to come.

It was at that moment that a mental image of Sonic's death came to mind yet again. Tails winced as he was reminded of that awful dream Darkness had poisoned his mind with. Tails was not a stranger to nightmares considering that back on the island he had a nightmare basically every night about his past. However, that one particular nightmare where Darkness had urged Tails to slaughter an entire clan of warriors that were only trying to protect their families.

It only made Tails feel worse that at that time he had actually enjoyed slicing those men apart. Tails chuckled to himself getting Sonic's attention.

"Hmm. Something funny?" The hedgehog asked oblivious to the insanity building up inside Tails.

"Sonic… why does slitting your wrists cause death?" Tails asked in a whisper.

Sonic didn't know how to respond to such a random and creepy question.

"T-Tails… please don't… don't ask me stuff like that…"

"Why!" Tails said that as if he was demanding an answer not asking for it.

"Well… uh… "

"Is it because like all the other pathetic people on this planet you're afraid to face the harsh reality of life? Live your life to it's fullest they say. Be happy and grow up to be someone who can 'change the world' they say. Is there even a point?"

Sonic became silent.

"No matter what anyone on this planet does to help 'change the world' the outcome always ends with death. Whether it be natural causes, murder, or suicide it always ends in death. Deep down everyone knows that it's true… but … they continue living as if the matter didn't even exist." Tails didn't know where his words came from. The way he spoke was as if he wasn't a 4-year-old at all.

Sonic remained silent as he watched Tails slam his fist on the ships panel.

" I wish… I wish I could act that way. I wish I could ignore the harshness of the world and be happy… like you…"

Sonic closed his eyes and thought. The kid was very intelligent. The way he thought and spoke was very observant and extensive for someone his age. However, he was also way to negative.

"Tails… I don't ignore the harshness of the world…I protect the peace of the world from it so that everything won't be as depressing and hopeless as that little speech of yours." Sonic spoke with a slight hint of anger in his voice. It wasn't anger that was directed at Tails but rather at Tails' impulse.

Tails was a very intelligent little kid but intelligent or not words like that don't come from 4-year-olds.

"Y-You're right…s-sorry for…what I said." Tails didn't know it but half of what he said came from Darkness' own mouth at the time he said it. However, since he didn't know that to be true all his mind told him was that it was all his fault.

Sonic was still silent but he was shouted at himself in his head loud enough to wake a heavy sleeping hobo fifty miles away from him.

_'WHAT THE HELL KIND OF ROLE MODEL AM I! Damn it! If only we knew anything; ANYTHING AT ALL about Tails' past…but we don't…I wonder if…'_

"Hey Sonic!" The fox shouted in a surprisingly chipper tone. "We're coming up on a continent!" The kid spoke as if what he said earlier had been completely erased from his mind.

"R-really. What is it?" Sonic asked a bit taken a back.

"The map scanner on Scorch's ship says that it's called 3-way Villa."

"3-way Villa? Oh yeah I've heard of it! That's that huge continent that's 1/3 Green hills, 1/3 Ice cap, and 1/3 dessert. Never been here before. I wonder how big it is! Aw man I can't wait to land so I exercise these feet!"

While Sonic was getting excited Tails was getting that oh so familiar feeling of trouble brewing in his chest.

"S-sonic. Somethin' bugs me about…" Tails began before the excited hedgehog interrupted.

"Which area are we landing at first?" Sonic asked looking over Tails' shoulder.

"Uh…the Green Hill zone…but Sonic I…"

Suddenly their radio crackled and while it did both of them began to wonder who turned it on.

Neither of them did.

_'Intercepting…Hellooooo…This is Igneous Rock speaking…'_

"Igneous Rock!" Both Sonic and Tails shouted. They immediately recognized him as the first of Eggman's commanders to have fought them back on Angel Island.

"What's he doing on the radio?" Tails asked.

"Shhh! Listen!" Sonic whispered.

_'I'm trying to send out a word to your mamma…I'm gonna totally screw with her tonight! WHOOO HOOO! And there ain't jack you can do about it because I am known as HE WHO SMOKE'S BITCHES!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!'_

Sonic and Tails' sweat dropped. He wasn't very smart when they first met him either.

All of a sudden they heard another voice in the background.

_'Calling all reinforcements! Please help me!' _Shouted a scared voice of a G.U.N unit general behind Igneous.

'_What! Are you seriously still alive? The hell is wrong with you! DIE you military bastard!'_

_'Ahhhhhhhrrrrggggh!'_

Then the radio went silent.

Sonic and Tails looked at each other wondering what the hell just took place and why they had intercepted a G.U.N base's radio transmitter when suddenly Sonic looked up.

"Hey Tails?"

"Yeah Sonic?"

"How high to trees usually reach?"

"…Why would you want to know?"

"Oh, because we're about to crash into one."

Tails turned his attention back to the front of the plane and nearly paniced as he saw a tree come up close to their windsheild. He immediately hoisted the plane upward barely missing the tree.

"Why didn't you just tell me the tree was there instead of asking me that dumb question?" Tails asked while turning towards Sonic.

"Okay, sorry. Next time I'll remember… TREE!"

Tails wasn't paying attention again and he was once again caught off guard. However this time he was to late and they rammed right into the tree. It immediately spring boarded them downward and they hit the dirt with a loud thud.

Eventually they found themselves sliding backward down the dirt hill crashing into various bushes and wild animals as they did.

"WHOO HOO! BACKWARD BOBSLED!" Sonic shouted. Tails at first was frightened but he soon joined Sonic in his shouting too. After all if Sonic wasn't scared why should he be?

They slid backward until they landed in a pond and scattered the frogs and lily pads inhabiting it away.

"Okay funs over! Everybody out!" Sonic and Tails hoisted themselves up and jumped out of the cockpit and onto the grass. After that they turned to look at the damage done to the ship and the pond.

"I don't think any kind of insurance is gonna cover this." The hedgehog chuckled.

Tails smiled and turned to face the enormous green hills overlooking the area.

"Wow this place sure is beautiful." He said clearly amazed.

"Hey, Hey, we can sight see later. Right now we've got to find out if anyone is here." Sonic said. Tails nodded and walked toward some bushes and pushed them apart.

"Down there!" he said with a sense of accomplishment.

"Huh?" Sonic asked confused as he ran up to the tiny genius.

"I saw a village down there earlier while we were crashing. There it is! See it! It's huge!" The fox was clearly excited.

"Yeah it is! Well then come on." Sonic grabbed the boy's hand and they were off.

_Green Hill Zone: Patella Village-5: 15 am_

When the two eager heroes reached the village they find it surprisingly empty.

"Hello! Anybody uhhh…" Sonic began.

"Wait Sonic! I can hear voices coming from that huge temple over there!" Tails said as he grabbed Sonic's arm and pulled him toward the direction he was referring to.

When they reached the temple they were surprised to see the entire village residence standing right there on the courtyard.

"Oh I hope she'll be okay."

"She isn't going to die is she?"

"I hope Strobe hurries up with his analysis."

They overheard the crowd's worried pleas and cries for help and began to wonder.

"Is someone dying?" Tails asked with a noticeable sadness in his voice. He had had enough death for one lifetime by now.

"I guess so. It must be someone important to for them all to be up at 5:15 in the morning and crowded around the temple like this."

The sun was barely beginning to rise when someone finally exited the temple.

It was man who looked about 18 wearing a black cloak around half of his body, which Sonic thought was strange. The half of his body that was shown was the left side and it had some interesting features. The man had a yellow eye and what looked like a purple lightning bolt on his cheek. He wore a white jacket, white pants, a huge yellow belt, a purple t-shirt with yellow lightning bolts on it this time and strangely enough he had violet colored hair.

"It's Strobe!" Everyone shouted out in excitement. The man known as Strobe just stared at them looking ashamed of himself. When everyone noticed this they all quieted down and waited for him to speak.

"Do not sound so excited comrades. The princess…the princess is alright…for now…but she will die in less than two hours." Strobe said with a large amount of regret in his voice.

Everyone gasped and a large amount of wailing and cries of concern began to flow across the scene again.

"Isn't there any way to save her!" A random person from the group yelled out.

Strobe nodded.

"Well then what's the problem? Save her!" Someone else shouted.

"I-I can't. You see in order save her I need a special mix of ingredients for a miracle medicine that can only be made here. I have everything necessary but one ingredient. It's an herb. A special herb that's located not only at the end of the green hill zone but it's secluded beneath green hill zone's basin and crevasses, the most condemned and dangerous part of this area."

Everyone listened contently not believing what was taking place.

"Going there would not only take more time then the princess has left to live but it's basically suicide. We don't need any more lives taken from us." Strobe finished explaining.

Everyone was silent for a few more minutes until basically everyone began to shriek and panic. Strobe stood there quietly while everyone screamed for a miracle.

"Hey! Maybe we can get it!" Shouted a certain two-tailed fox.

Everyone in the crowd turned to face them and noticed their presence for the first time.

"Who are they?"

"Intruders!"

"Are they mocking us by saying they could actually get the herb!"

"How dare they!"

Everyone began speaking as if Sonic and Tails were criminals already. Eventually a numerous amount of angered men came up to them with swords in hand.

"Who are you and what business do you have with our village?" One of them asked astonishingly calm.

"Hey, Hey! Don't be so blood thirsty! We only came here because of an accident and overheard your little ordeal. We were offering to get this so called special herb to help out your princess." Sonic explained.

"You expect us to believe that two outsiders would just all of a sudden appear out of no where and offer their services to us without even finding out as to who we are first. You're gonna have to do a lot better than that." Said another man.

"Yeah well I…" Sonic was at a loss when Strobe spoke up.

"It's called being generous. Lower your weapons please. They mean you no harm." Strobe informed them.

"B-but sir."

"Now, now. We don't need anymore trouble then what we already have." The lightning themed man said as he jumped off the temples' front, flipped in the air and landed in front of Sonic and Tails.

"Wow! Nice jump!" Tails said amazed.

"Thank you. Who are you?"

"I'm Tails and this is Sonic, Sonic the hedgehog." The fox spoke up. The crowd went silent as if a bell went off in their heads that said 'It's the hero of Mobius! He'll save us!'

Everyone immediately gathered around Sonic and Tails and began shouting at them a mile a minute.

"Are you really!?"

"You can save her!"

"Please! Make sure she's okay."

Sonic's sweat dropped as he began to ponder how these people could have such tremendous mood swings so quickly.

"I'm sorry for their behavior." Strobe spoke up.

"Don't worry about it! I'll be back in a flash!" Sonic was about to take off when Strobe stopped by saying.

"Don't you even wish to know what it looks like or how to get there first?"

Sonic stopped and turned around looking a bit embarrassed.

"Oh yeah. That'd be nice."

_Green Hill Zone: Patella Village- 6: 17 am_

Tails stayed behind while Sonic went for the herb. He stayed inside the temple with Strobe and the princess. Her name was Princess Patella, as she was named after the village by her late father.

Tails watched as Strobe nursed the sick princess the best way he could. The way he took care of her provided a very comforting atmosphere. She lied on a small cot sweating bullets and was surrounded by many medical tools.

"I'm so sorry to be troubling you like this Strobe. I always hate to be a burden to you." She said with a soft and weak voice.

"Don't speak. You must conserve energy. " He informed her wholeheartedly.

She nodded and breathed deeply then relaxed. Tails noticed that the princess was about Strobe's age and height. She wore a kimono that was embroidered with pictures of red, yellow, orange, and purple flowers. Not only that but she had wavy black hair and pretty blue eyes.

Tails thought they looked well together but he didn't really have much time to worry about that considering an hour had passed and Sonic still wasn't back. The people outside were getting worried. Sonic was the fastest thing alive. They thought he would've been back by now. After 10 more minutes Sonic finally burst through the door holding the crushed herb in his hand.

"Sorry I took so long. I thought it was gonna be a breeze but I… sorry it's crushed too… and…" Sonic tried to apologize the best way he could but Strobe just took the herb from him and began the mixture.

"It's alright hedgehog. Thanks to you we have what's necessary to save her life." He reassured.

"Umm… okay… is… is this medicine really all that special?"

"Yes actually. One sip should do the trick but I'll let her drink it all in order to be safe." Strobe lifted the princess' head up and fed her the drink. Sonic and Tails watched with awe as the princess was laid back down to rest.

"Thank you Strobe. You and that hedgehog are saints." She smiled.

"Me? A saint? Heh Heh, well I uh…" Sonic rubbed the back of his head when Tails interjected.

"No, she's right Sonic." The fox grinned and Sonic blushed and chuckled nervously. "Hey Strobe shouldn't we tell everyone. They seemed really worried before." Tails reminded him.

"Oh yes! Yes of course." Strobe stood up feeling extremely proud of himself as he exited the temple and informed everyone outside of the fantastic news. A second later Sonic, Tails and Patella all heard huge bursts of joy and happiness.

"I say we celebrate." The princess spoke up all of a sudden. " Things have been so dull around here lately and everyone has been so worried. I'd say everyone here has deserved a break."

"Sure I'm game." Sonic smiled proudly. It was amazing. An hour on one island and they were already heroes. Sonic must just have that affect on people.

_3-way Villa: Green Hill Zone- 7:45 am_

"I'll have another round!"

"Drinks over here!"

"Isn't this great!"

Everyone was happy and having fun again now that it was assured their princess would live. Everyone was inside the huge temple having a huge party while the a few select people stayed with the princess in her room to have a less wild but still fun celebration.

Among them were Strobe and the guests of honor, Sonic and Tails.

"I can't thank you enough for helping me." She thanked the two adventurers once again.

"Again it's no problem." Sonic said trying not to be too modest.

"And Strobe I'm especially grateful to you for not giving up on me." She said to him.

"…"

"… Uh Strobe…" Tails tried to get the silent cloaked teen's attention. Tails reached over and tapped his shoulder. Strobe looked up and looked at the fox.

"What? Oh! Yes, you're welcome Patella." He said meekly.

Tails noticed Strobe had been acting weird as time went on. He barely spoke at all and when he did speak he would always mumble something about regret. He always stared at his watch and his facial features grew sadder and more depressed when he did. Tails decided to ask when if something was wrong while Sonic chatted with the princess.

"Hey Strobe, is something bothering you. You seem pretty sad." The concerned fox asked.

"What? Oh…yeah…"

"Aren't you happy your princess is alive?"

"Of coarse I am!" Strobe said almost defensively. "It's just…" Strobe all of a sudden looked at his watch and almost freaked out.

"What is it?" Tails asked confused.

"Uh…nothing… it's nothing… Princess Patella!" Strobe spoke up all of a sudden. The princess faced Strobe.

"I must leave for a while. I'll show myself out." Strobe got up and left.

"Oh… okay… I was really hoping you would…" The princess started before Strobe left. She sighed then faced Sonic again. Tails turned toward the door then decided to follow him out. He got up and left without saying a word to Sonic.

After a few minutes of silence the hedgehog all of a sudden decided to gain a big head.

"Hey Princess, you like Strobe don't ya?" Sonic said all of a sudden.

"Well of coarse I do. He's a very nice person and I respect him for saving me." She said not really getting what Sonic was saying.

"That's not what I meant. I meant… well… you know… more than a friend."

It took her about two seconds to realize what Sonic was talking about before she blushed furiously. What could she do? He was right and she wasn't about to deny her love for him.

"… Well… yes… honestly… but uhhh…"

"Yeeeeeeesssssssss" Sonic said a bit smugly.

"I don't think he likes me all that well. You saw the way he left all of a sudden…"

"Oh please. Don't start that 'I don't think he likes me all that well' stuff. I've seen that before and the person you think doesn't like you always ends up marrying you."

"… Well… that does sound nice but… well…" She stammered.

"But what?' The sly hedgehog asked. He didn't know much about love but he was a great judge of character and even greater at teasing.

"… N-nothing… you may be right." She was just nervous and Sonic sensed this.

_3-way villa: Green Hill zone- 7:55 am _

Tails followed Strobe outside to the courtyard and hid behind a bush to keep out of sight. He watched as Strobe looked around and pulled out a small communicator. Tails gasped when he saw it because he was sure he had seen it before.

"No way… we… we can't be that unlucky." Tails watched as Strobe had his conversation.

_'Commander Strobe Lightning! Have Sonic and our little future kitsune killer arrived yet.'_

"Y-yes… Dr. Eggman." Strobe answered with an emotionless voice.

"Excellent! The wars going perfectly, as planned of coarse. The G.U.N central unit of this area is down and Karst should be on his way to pick the fox up." Eggman said with a clearly satisfied tone in his voice.

Tails began to back away in order to tell Sonic but he just couldn't. He felt so cold all of a sudden. It was uncomfortable and frightening.

"I… I need to tell Sonic… b-but… I feel… I feel… f-frozen…"

_Back inside the temple _

"That's it. Tails has been gone too long. I'm gonna go look for him."

"Are you sure he's not just exploring the area?" Patella asked. Sonic didn't answer her as he zoomed out the temple too fast to see. The first place he reached was the courtyard and the first thing he saw was a note on the ground.

The hedgehog acting like the curious 11-year-old he was picked it up, unfolded it, and read it to himself. The more of the note he read the more angry he got. He just couldn't believe it!

"… Karst Ice? That bastard got Tails!"

"It would appear so." Strobe's voice came from behind prompting Sonic to quickly turn around.

"Whoa! Don't sneak up on me like that."

"Sorry… "

"… Damn it! I was only a little ways from him and that bastard kidnapped him! DAMN IT!" The angered hedgehog slammed his foot on the ground in frustration.

"… They couldn't have gotten to far… I… I'll tell Princess Patella that we're off to find him."

"Y-you're coming with me?"

"After what you did for the princess… it would be to my eternal pleasure to assist you."

"Wow… thank you… I'm really grateful for your help."

"Don't be."

"… W-why?"

"… We'd better get going. I'll be back in a minute." Strobe went off to inform the princess who quickly made him promise to return as soon as he could.

_Back inside_

"Please! Just tell me you'll be alright!" She wanted desperatly for him to stay but his bound will couldn't allow it. It made him fell terrible inside.

"I wish I knew the outcome of the events that were to come... but sadly I don't. So much might change in one day and I can't tell if it was meant to be for the better or for the worst."

"So... your saying... that you won't..."

"I will be back... and hopefully... by some miricale I'll be on the same terms again." Strobe got up and left before she could ask what that meant. Something in her gut told her that something terrible was about to take place.

After Strobe promised wholeheartedly he met up with Sonic outside.

"Now then… is there anything on that note that may point us in the right direction?" Strobe asked while straightening himself out.

"Actually yes. Karst goes on and on about how Eggman's operation is going to take place somewhere in the mountains. I'm no stranger to this kind of gloating. He defidently wants us to follow him."

"Hmmm… the mountains … they're located northeast which means that location is our best bet."

"Yeah, we should get going before whatever they're planning gets started." Sonic immediately grabs Strobe's hand and heads off at an extremely fast rate toward the mountains.

Unknown to them a certain jaguar had been hidden behind the bushes watching the two ponder and worry.

"Heh heh. Guess ol' Two-Tail' is just now getting into the action. Guess I'd better do my own half the plan." Hang Nail sat there and laughed to himself for a second before remembering his ambition.

"Hmmm… I bet Slips and Silt are real proud of me. Don't worry you guys, despite ol' Eggman's plan I'll make sure I'm the one who kills that fox… for all three of us."

_Meanwhile _

Sonic and Strobe ran side by side now. Strobe had insisted on it claiming that because of his lightning theme he'd be able to keep up with Sonic. Sonic didn't know what he meant by 'lightning theme' but he just assumed he was talking about the way he dressed.

"I'm sorry about what happened to your friend… I truly am."

"Yeah well it isn't your fault. If anyone should be apologizing it should be me for dragging you into this mess." Sonic said.

"Oh you shouldn't feel apologetic to a peasant like me. A guy like me would never make it to the level of appreciation that people have for you. You'd probably even stand a better chance with Princess Patella than me."

_'So he does love her back. I knew it! I knew it!'_ Sonic grinned and turned back to Strobe. "Come on man! You shouldn't be so hard on yourself. I bet she really likes you more than she lets on."

"… Hmm… thank you …but... " Strobe and Sonic reached a huge grassland and Strobe stopped which prompted Sonic to stop as well.

"Hey man. Something wrong?" Sonic asked noticing Strobe's depressed face.

"…I…"

" A-are you okay?"

"… I'm sorry."

"Huh?" Sonic took a step forward and immediately found a gun pointed to the side of his head. He turned and saw one of Eggman's robots. Then he looked around and saw plenty of robots appear suddenly from behind their cloaking devices; all of them pointing guns at Sonic.

The hedgehog looked around in disbelief than at Strobe.

"Lightning theme…? You're one of Eggman's commanders aren't you."

"…Yes… regretfully."

"So you know where Tails was taken!"

"Yes."

"Tell me!"

"I can't. I am bound to Eggman's will. Therefore we share the same goal. I'm sorry Sonic… but it's time for you to die.

_Once again I am very very very very very sorry for not updating for so long. If I could've done anything about it I would've in a heartbeat. Now that access to FanFiction is back to me I will be able to put more chapters up soon._


	26. Chapter 26

_Hello all! I really hope that everyone can still follow what's going on in the story considering how long I've been gone so long. Any here's the next chapter. Please read and review._

**Chapter 25: Dangerous Ambition**

Sonic and Strobe stood across from each other in the open field barely noticing Eggman's heavily armed robots. Sonic had his own battle position while Strobe stood firmly in place. His hands were at his side and he looked as if he had been waiting in line for some useless item for hours.

They both stared at each other; both not making a sound after Strobe declared it was time for Sonic to die. Something was seriously bothering Sonic. They way this guy acted wasn't normal for one of Eggman's commanders.

Igneous was an idiot but he was strong and ruthless.

Combustion was lazy but skilled and powerful.

Karst was a complete bastard but he had great element control and reaction.

However Strobe… Strobe had just saved a princess' life. Perhaps he only did it because he wanted to trick everyone in that village into believing he was a hero so that they wouldn't see this day coming. It was a good theory but… something STILL wasn't right…

"Hey… Strobe…tell me…" Sonic said destroying the silence between them.

Strobe continued to stare at Sonic's emerald green eyes with his own eyes half open and seemingly emotionless.

"All that stuff about liking the princess… was it all fake… was it just an extremely convincing lie… or do you really have feelings for her?" Sonic asked.

"… I won't deny my love for the princess… for it is real." Strobe stated.

"Then why… why are you doing this. You know Eggman wouldn't hesitate to attack your village the minute he found out the only person to protect it was dead."

"… I realize this."

"Then what's the deal? What could you possibly gain from this!"

"I have nothing to gain… and I have everything to lose… however it can't be helped. I must defeat you because Eggman's will is my will."

"Huh? Y-you sound like you're being forced to do it. Is that it? Is Eggman forcing you to do this?!"

"Nothing of the sort… I'm doing what Eggman's will instructs me to do."

"…"

"… Hang Nail and 1/3 of Eggman's army is on its way here while Tails is to be taken the Ice Cap region of the 3-way-villa where Metal Sonic waits."

"WHAT!?" Sonic was completely freaked out by what was happening. 1/3 of Eggman's fleet! That was completely reckless!

"What are talking about?! Do you know how stupid that is? Is Eggman trying to start a war or something? If he sent out 1/3 of his entire fleet then someone is bound to…"

"It's already started."

"W-what?!"

"The war with G.U.N has already begun. "

This was a little too much for Sonic. An enormous amount of warships were on their way here. That bully from Westside Island was still alive and on Eggman's side now. And to top it all off Karst has Tails and all Sonic had was a red chaos emerald he got from Combustion tied to a string in his hair. It made for great camouflage by the way.

"I know you have a chaos emerald in your quills." Strobe said suddenly.

'_Okay… maybe it wasn't that good of a camouflage.' _Sonic thought with his sweat dropping.

"If you're going to use it I suggest you do." He warned.

Sonic reluctantly pulled the emerald out of his quills an unraveled the string tied around it. He held it in his hand and a small red light shown from his fist.

"All this for your little fox friend… it's unfortunate." Strobe held up his hand and shot a huge lightning bolt at Sonic.

"Whoa!" Sonic quickly jumped aside and let the bolt destroy a robot that was behind him. He rolled on the ground as another one was shot at him. He stopped and quickly jumped in the air.

"You're a lot faster then you were before." Strobe said as he stood in the same spot. Sonic pulled his body inward until he was in his spindash form then came down and extended his foot.

As soon as his foot made contact with Strobe's head he got a huge jolt of electricity. It caused him to fly backward and drop the chaos emerald down the hill they previously ran up.

"My emerald!" Sonic yelled when he felt a disturbing presence behind him.

"It'll be fine! However, the same won't be said for you. **8 kilowatt maxim**." As soon as Strobe said that a huge bolt of lightning was shot at Sonic's back. He shouted in pain as he was blasted back towards the ground and slammed against a tree. Strobe merely back flipped and landed on the grass.

"Just give up. I'd rather not kill you."

Sonic struggled to his feet and gritted his teeth in pain.

"I'd rather not give up considering what's at stake here." Sonic was determined.

"Very well." Strobe charged up his hand and shot toward Sonic. Sonic prompted himself to move his feet but a second later Strobe was in his face.

"Wait how did…?" Sonic didn't have time to finish before Strobe's electrified hand was jabbed in his stomach.

"8 kilowatt maxim!"

This time Sonic was shot out away from the hill and he spun around in the air until he landed on his head in the large field below. Before he could get up all the way Strobe appeared behind him. Strobe lashed his hand down at Sonic but Sonic was able to barely get out of the way. However, the lightning traveled on the ground and was able to keep Sonic dodging until it eventually shocked him.

With Sonic stunned again, Strobe shoot forward and did his 8 kilowatt maxim attack in Sonic's stomach again. It spun him and he flipped through the air, across the field, until he hit a tree and fell to the ground again.

"You're still alive… impressive… truly impressive…"

Sonic stood up with blood trickling from his mouth. Those shots had really messed up his insides… he really didn't know how though. He coughed and some of it stained the beautiful green grass.

"N-now… it's my turn." Sonic stood up and didn't waste time to charge at him with full speed. Strobe didn't move his eyes as he saw Sonic head toward him and deliver a kick to his face. However, a strong field of electricity kept Sonic at bay. Sonic seemed to kept disappearing and reappearing to deliver useless kicks and punches at Strobe which only bounced off of him.

"Why… can't… I… hit… YOU!"

"Because I'm generating electricity the moves 1000 miles a half-second. You power can't break through that."

"Oh yeah!" Sonic sped up his attacks. Strobe eventually grabbed his leg and twirled him around over his head and eventually tossed at the tree behind him. Sonic not only hit the tree but he crashed through it and hit his head against a rock.

"Damn it. Guess I have no choice…" Sonic pulled a gold ring out of his glove and clutched it tightly. Strobe noticed a sudden increase in Sonic's Power when suddenly Sonic burst out of the forest and back into the field. Strobe quickly put his arm to face in order to protect it from his attack.

Sonic was pushed back but quickly attacked again when he saw his chance. Strobe actually had to move now. He kicked Sonic away every time it seemed a hit was to be made that would seem fatal.

"It's useless… You can't win…"

""I don't care what you say. I will win!" Sonic undid his spin dash suddenly and was able to accurately kick Strobe in the face. Strobe stumbled backward and Sonic tried to strike again but Strobe quickly jumped back to regain his composure.

"I see, you were weakening my shield by attacking it directly. You're resourceful."

Suddenly their battle was interrupted by a shout from above.

"Oh Strobe!" Came a familiar voice. Both Sonic and Strobe looked up and saw none other than the infamous Dr. Eggman himself riding in his egg mobile with Bokkun perched by his side.

"Eggman!" Sonic shouted angrily.

"Why must you always yell at me like that? I can hear just fine when you talk normally you know. It's not like I'm some kind of lawyer." Eggman said clearly annoyed.

"You tell me what you've done with Tails!"

"Didn't Strobe tell you? He's in the Ice Cap zone."

"I meant what are you doing with him?!"

"You and you're questions!" Bokkun said suddenly. "Stop hounding you big meanie!"

"Now, now Bokkun! There's no need to be menacing. After all our hero does believe in all that lovey dovey crap. You need to talk slow and explain things over and over again to people like that." Eggman said prompting them both to laugh uncontrollably.

"Doctor!" Strobe shouted.

Eggman suddenly got serious and looked down at Strobe.

"Yes, Mr. sensitive."

"Why are you here! Isn't Hang Nail supposed to be the one attacking the village?" Strobe sounded scared when he asked it, which made Sonic turn to him questioning his true ambition.

"What! You mean Hang Nail hasn't shown up with my fleet yet! What's he doing?" Eggman asked surprised.

"Huh? It's there!" Sonic said pointing up at Eggman's incoming fleet. A huge barrage of different colored ships all hung over the clouds. At first glance it would seem as though it was Eggman's entire fleet. This guy really had a lot of time on his hands.

"There's the fleet but where the hell is Hang Nail? He was supposed to be riding in one of the two-seated ships I made specifically for my commanders! I don't see it there!" Eggman shouted. This was really ticking him off.

"Doctor I just got a message from Hang Nail on our monitor!" Bokkun said clearly surprised."

Eggman faced the monitor and read it angrily.

"_Eggman, sorry but I've got some unfinished business with Two-Tail. Catch ya later."_

Eggman became completely enraged when he read this sudden burst of unacceptable information!

"WHAT! Hang Nail you incompetent bastard! Karst and Metal Sonic are the ones who are suppose to keep track of the fox not you! That bastard's screwing up my plan!" Eggman boasted.

"I know! How dare he go up against you Doctor!" Bokkun said with the same amount of rage. This much defience was completely unforgivable. It also seemed to happen a lot, however. Just then they got another call, this time from Bocoe and Decoe.

"Geez, what is it now!" Eggman shouted at the surprised robots on the monitor.

"Eggman-sama! We've got word that Igneous has finished off the G.U.N bases surrounding the area and is headed for the desert region like you said. Shall we meet up with you at coordinates 000."

Eggman thought for 10 long seconds before answering.

"There's been a slight change in plans. I'll meet up with you two later and make sure to see if the areas you pass by are all secure. Oh and I like the Eggman-sama bit, keep calling me that."

"Right! Eggman-sama!" Bocoe and Decoe tuned back out.

"What are we gonna do now doctor?" Bokkun asked.

"Heh heh! No big deal! Since Hang Nail isn't here I'll just attack the village myself!" Eggman chuckled.

Strobe looked as though he'd just seen something get brutally killed right in front of him when he heard that. He just stood there in disbelief as if all hope had completely drained from his body in the last minute or so. He saw Eggman's mobile fly off and Sonic began to chase after it.

"Err! Stop Eggman!" The angry hedgehog yelled.

"What kind of an idiot stops when the person chasing him tells him to?" Was the doctor's response as he kept on flying.

"Damn it Eggman! If you think that I'm just gonna…"

**"16 kilowatt maxim!"** A battle cry came from behind and struck Sonic in the back. The hedgehog shouted in pain as the large numerous bolts of lightning shot throughout his body. He ended up getting blasted into the ground and creating a body sized crater.

"I'm sorry but I'll be taking your chaos emerald." Strobe said holding the red chaos emerald that Sonic had a while ago. This guy must've really been fast to have gotten it without Sonic seeing.

Strobe took off toward the village while the extremly damaged Sonic struggled to his feet. He held his bleeding arm and chuckled lightly to himself.

"Well… I can… honestly say… that this is guaranteed to be interesting."

_Karst's ship: Over the Ice cap region of 3-way villa- 8:40 am_

"Ugh… where am I…? Mommy? Daddy? No… it was just another dream about my past… my stupid STUPID PAST!" Tails woke up confused and then almost immediately angry with himself.

"I can't believe this is happening…" The fox began to sulk. "All I wanted to do was help out my super cool bestest friend and brother in the world stop that meanie Dr. Eggman but I've done more harm than good. I don't even know where I am…" Tails began to scold himself and wonder if he really should've just jumped off that cliff back at Westside Island. However, he was only reminded again and again of how sad Sonic would be if that were to happen.

That's when Tails first took notice of his surroundings. He was in a ship; a very small ship that had a caged backseat and a cockpit in the front seat. It was all steel and incredibly cold. The huge glass hatch door showed Tails the scenery outside which made him aware of the weather. It was… snowing?

"A while ago it was all sunny but now… oh I get it! This must be the ice cap region of 3-way villa." Tails said inquisitively. He then took notice of the pilot and almost choked on his own saliva when he saw him.

"It's…it's that mean Karst guy!"

Tails was right. It was indeed Karst but it seemed as though he had not realized Tails had woken up. He was singing to himself while flying about how pretty and handsome he was. It was a horrid song with lyrics that sounded like they were slapped together in two seconds by someone with an extremely limited vocabulary.

"Oh I'm so pretty! I'm so pretty! I'm pretty and witty and bright! And I pity…"

"Hey! Excuse me! Mr. evil ice robot guy! Could you stop singing that awful song now."

"What's wrong with the song?" Karst said defensively.

"Well nothing I bet when someone else sings it. It's just that you…"

"I didn't ask for your damn opinion!" Karst shouted.

"…Yes you did… when you asked me what was wrong with the s-"

"Okay fine! Just shut up and stay out of my hair the rest of the ride!"

"Okay." Tails said giving up rather quick.

"Damn child. It's Eggman's fault I'm stuck in this slow ass vehicle with this dumb ass kid! If I were leader I'd just kill that brat and piss Darkness off so I could overpower him with my 'cool, calm, and collected attitude.' Damn it, I can't even begin to fully express my extreme hate for that Egg shaped wretch everyone calls leader. Oh and his most trusted accomplice Metal Sonic ticks me off even worse! Him and his obvious superiority make me want to puke… which I can't do since I'm essentially half of a robot but…"

"Umm, excuse me!" Tails interrupted again.

"What is it now!" Karst shouted. He hated it when his boasting was interrupted.

"Why do suddenly feel this way?" Tails asks feeling that these thoughts were brought on rather quick.

"What? I've always felt this way!"

"Really? Well then why do want to work for him if you want him dead so much." It almost hurt Tails' heart to an extreme extent when he said the word 'dead' but he had to keep gathering information. It was the least he could do for Sonic.

"Why? Because Eggman's got more chaos emeralds. I've lost the one I had to that pink hedgehog."

"Oh."

"I've been a killer literally all my life! I tell ya it was a lot better than this. Back when I was just a kid about your age, I first experienced the great pleasure of murder when I stomped on a bug. The way it just died so easily made me intrigued. I did it again and again until bugs weren't enough, so when I was seven I began killing house pets, even my own. Of coarse my parents never found out. Eventually when I turned eleven I experienced the joy of murdering another kid in my age group at his own birthday party. With my master mind I was able to make it look like an accident too."

Tails' couldn't believe the horrible things he was hearing. Back when this guy was all human did he actually killed another kid for no reason but to see him die, on his own birthday!? It made Tails feel woozy and enormously frightened, no, _terrified_, that a person could do such awful things at such a young age without even caring.

" Eventually though, I got into an accident that caused my body to become dismembered and Dr. Eggman healed me and I became one of his four commanders. If it wasn't for the fact that he knew the whereabouts of the chaos emeralds I would've just killed him when he was done fixing me up."

It wasn't true! It couldn't be true! Such a person couldn't exist! This was just too scary for a 4-year-old to take in all at once. He felt as if he was about to faint by just being in the same room as this guy.

"_No! No matter how scared I get I can't let Sonic down!"_ Tails needed to think of something fast. He thought and thought and eventually came up with a semi-good idea. He just hoped that it would work. The fox picked himself up and took in a deep breath then shouted at Karst. "I totally agree with you!"

"You what?!" Karst felt like he had to hear that again. It was just so weird and so… unexpected.

"Dr. Eggman deserves to die! And not just for what he did to Sonic, but for you too." Every word he spoke burned at his heart but he figured he had to do this in order to gain Karst's trust.

"R-really?"

"Yeah! Totally! I mean the great murderer Karst can't be bothered with such a stupid guy like Eggman! You deserve the chaos emeralds more than he does!"

"I know I do! That's what I've been getting at this whole time! But how do I get them?"

"Just take 'em!"

"Wha-?"

"You know where they are right? So just go and take 'em! You don't need Eggman! You're the great murderer Karst!"

"That's right… THAT'S RIGHT! I AM the greatest guy to ever live…"

Tails' sweat dropped. _'I didn't say that'_, he thought nervously.

"I'll just take the emeralds! Whose gonna stop me, some egg shaped human and his pet metal blue hedgehog?! HA!"

"That's the spirit Karst!" Tails felt like he was going to instantly gain diarrhea if he had to say one more encouraging thing to this jerk.

"I Karst Ice, now officially declare myself free of Eggman's grasp!"

"Yeah!" Tails shouted.

"And as my first act of freedom, I'll have the honor of killing YOU!" Karst said while unsheathing his sword.

"Wha-WHAT!"

"Of coarse! After all you're the one Eggman wants! If I kill you then his plans go down the crapper!" Karst explained.

Tails' jaw hit the floor. He had just done that entire diarrhea talk for nothing!

Karst sliced apart the caged back seat and broke through the bars while Tails backed up completely frightened. He should've seen this coming considering that this guy was a cold-hearted killer. Luck didn't grace the fox very much it seemed.

"Now then, hold still and it'll all be over quick." The robot assured.

Tears began to form in Tails' eyes when suddenly…

BOOM!

"The hell was that?" Karst shouted as a massive explosion had hit the cockpit and was now on fire.

"Huh?" Tails was confused too. Karst used his ice powers to put out the fire the quickly turned back to Tails.

"It seems I have even less time then originally thought. I'll have to do this quicker!" Karst raised his sword again when suddenly a huge fireball shot through the wall and blasted the sword out of his hand.

"Who the hell keeps doing that!?" The half –robot was clearly pissed off now. Tails, however, seeing the large hole in the wall didn't hesitate to make a run for it. He got up and literally jumped out of the ship through the hole before Karst had time to react.

"What the? Who? But how?" Karst kept asking himself questions he couldn't, at the moment, answer while Tails plummeted toward the snow. The fox was extremly happy to have actually gotten lucky for once... however that didn't seem to last long either.

"What's going on? Why can't I fly?" Tails' tails felt as if they were literally frozen even though they weren't. He couldn't move them. "Uh –oh! This is it!" Tails closed his eyes and prepared for the horrible landing when suddenly he felt a snag on his fur.

Was he dead? Or did something else happen. There was also the sound of a running snowmobile. Not too mention that he suddenly felt a lot warmer. He didn't know what to make of this feeling. After a few seconds Tails opened his eyes only to be lifted upward and brought on the inside of an actual _'wide-spaced raft snowmobile_!"

He looked up at the people who saved him and felt as if his guiding spirit and just shot him with an unbelievable amount of luck. It was these guys again! The ones they met in Future City!

"Hey Tails! Nice to see you again so soon! You don't need to worry any more because Team Chaotix is on the job." The heartwarming statement was said by none other then the great Vector the Crocodile who was currently using Sonic's trademark wink and thumbs up sign. Tails looked over and saw 12-year-old ninja Espio smiling triumphantly and 2-year-old Charmy Bee sucking on his feet.

"It was you… you fired at Karst and saved me." Tails was tearing up.

"Think nothing of it! This rescue is free of charge!" Vector stated happily while turning the snowmobile around and heading away from Karst's destination.

"Wow, that's very unexpected of you Vector!" Espio said

"Well hey, he is only four." Vector said with an enormous grin on his face. Charmy sat there smiling happily at Tails then trotted over to him to give him a hug. Tails accepted seeing as he really needed one right about now.

"You idiots!" Came a very VERY pissed off Karst from his ship above them. He too had turned his ship around and started to fly back towards them while angrily firing a numerous amount of missiles at them.

"Uh-oh!" Espio said assessing the situation they were in. A snowmobile with a built-in raft verses a small ship with tons of various weaponry. Needless to say, it didn't look good.

"Don't panic guys! Evasive Maneuvers on the double!" Vector shouted.

"Okay! Hang on to the side of the raft part of the snowmobile, Tails!" Espio instructed while doing what he said first. Tails did as he was told and hung on to the oddly shaped snowmobile.

Vector then grabbed the controls of the vehicle and started swerving it back and forth and side to side in order to dodge the incoming missiles. Each one they dodged increased Karst's 'ticked off meter' by at least 10 points each.

"Come on! Blow the hell up!" Karst kept firing and the Chaotix kept dodging. As they did this it wasn't becoming apparent to any of them that they were actually moving further away from their original destination to coordinates 000. At that time however, no one really cared.

_Ice Cap Castle: Ice Cap zone of 3-way-villa- 9:12 am_

Metal Sonic sat at a small table in the humungous castle located at the end of the Ice cap zone. He was a follower of Darkness but still took orders from Eggman by order of his new master. It sounded incredibly stupid but it was his occupation now.

As of now he waited and waited and is still waiting for Karst to arrive. Metal really didn't believe it to be in his best interest to wait. However, that was all he had been commanded to do. So he waited and waited…

_Back at the raft-snowmobile battle zone_

"This guy's annoying!" Vector shouted as he kept turning the machine in different directions.

"What do we do, Vector!" Tails shouted obviously worried.

"Hmm…Espio, it's time to put your ninja skills to work!" Vector said dodging another missile.

"Rodger!" Espio clasped his hands together and turned invisible. He had already trained for this and was ready to give his new skills a go. Once invisible he waited for the next wave of missiles to come and he jumped out of the vehicle and onto one of the missiles. As soon as he landed on one he quickly hopped to the next one closest to Karst's ship and continued until he was directly overhead the ship's cockpit.

"Alright then! Hit the mark!" Espio pulled out three kunai knifes and tossed them at the ship's control panel. They all hit directly.

"What the?!" Karst shouted as he saw the knifes hit the panel which caused it to immediately spark uncontrollably. "Oh! Oh crap! Oh! I uhhhhh, I can fix this! All I have to do is…"

That's when the panel exploded.

"…Err I hate all of you! I promise I'll do everything in my power to see you all die a horrible and slow death! All of you!" Karst shouted as his ship and Espio came down. Vector made a quick U-turn and drove back to quickly grab Espio. However, Karst's ship crashed before they could reach him.

"Uh-oh! Hang on you two!" The anxious crocodile warned as they neared the now visible Espio. Vector extended his hand and quickly grabbed the chameleon before the explosion grew deadly. Even though they had him the explosion caused them all to swerve and eventually tumble on the snow toward the direction Karst's ship was originally headed.

Tails held Charmy close to make sure he didn't get hurt while Espio held Tails by his arm and used his other hand to hold on the tumbling vehicle. Vector used both of his hands to make sure he had a firm grasp on the snowmobile before building a huge amount of fire in his mouth. Once he built up enough fire he shot it straight at the ground, which in turn shot the mobile toward the sky and away from the line of explosion.

They all held onto the vehicle while it flipped through the air. Eventually a large crash took place that could be heard from a distance.

Afterwards there was a lot of smoke and dead silence.

_Dessert coastline: Dessert region of 3-way villa- 9:15 am _

"Ugh! FIIIIINALLY! We've made it!" Knuckles shouted extremely ticked off that it took forever to reach the location they needed to be. He looked back at the boat he just exited and saw Amy staring at the ground.

"…"

"A-Amy? What is it?" Knuckles asked noticing she was looking at the ground intently.

"Knuckles… look at all that sand!" Amy said pointing the scenery behind them. Knuckles took notice of the land for the first time and nearly fell over in amazement.

"... This… this dessert…it's right next to the ocean! There's no coast or anything! The water just ends and it suddenly transforms into a desert." Knuckles got on one knee then felt the sand closest to the water. "Wow…this sand isn't even wet…not a single grain of it is…it's like this land and the water are in different dimensions or something…"

Knuckles stood up and turned to Amy. "What do you think this means?"

"Who cares what it means!?" Amy snapped.

"Huh?"

"When I said look at the sand I was talking about something else!"

"Really? What is it?"

"It's too high and dirty! If I go out in that my new AND old boots might get ruined!"

"BITCH! IS THAT WHAT YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT!?"

"Well duh! I don't care that the sands wet you idiot! Being trapped on that island so long must've made you extremely boring."

"Well fine! If I'm so boring then I guess I'll go on ahead without you! I don't need anyone's help especially not the help of some snobby cheerleader!" Knuckles shouted then ran off into the desert.

Amy stood there pouting for a few seconds before reluctantly tossing her old boots away and putting her new ones on.

"Darn it! Well I guess I'd better catch up before hot head gets himself hurt." She then immediately took off after Knuckles.

Knuckles ran a long way until finally deciding to slow down and check out his surroundings.

"Hmmm… something's under me…" Knuckles jumped out of the way quick enough to dodge the huge half-robot that suddenly erupted out of the sand. "Ha! You're gonna have to do better than that!"

"So it seems echidna." The huge yellow commander says as he arises out of the ground.

"Huh? I-it's you! You're the idiot who tried to steal the Master Emerald!" Knuckles shouted feeling extremely angry.

"That's right! It is I! Igneous Rock! Also known as the legendary 'He who smokes' bitches!' WHOOO HOOOOO!"

"Yeah! I remember you all right!"

"So have you come to me to beg for your life?"

"What?"

"You must be really scared of Eggman and his un-awesome ways of killing people that you came here to be killed honorably."

"What are you…?" Knuckles began when Amy came up from behind huffing and puffing.

"Ugh… Knuckles… why must you run so fast." She complained. Igneous suddenly began to chuckle.

"Heh! Heh! Heh! Oh I see! In a last ditch attempt to save your life you brought me this woman. That's funny. Strippers are too expensive these days so you thought that this would win me over. Well forget it! Bribing me with a whore won't work. I'm too smart for that!" Igneous said triumphantly.

That's when Knuckles burst out in laughter. However, his laughter quickly stopped when Amy's hammer popped out of nowhere.

"**DID YOU JUST CALL ME A WHORE!? HOW DARE YOU!"**

Igneous' sweat dropped. "What? Did I get it wrong?" Amy suddenly started to shout an enormously scary battle cry and unexpectedly launched her hammer at Igneous. The robot quickly ducked as the hammer crashed into the sand and created a huge crater behind him.

"W-wow! Such amazing power!" He said in amazement.

"**THERE'S A LOT MORE WHERE THAT CAME FROM!"**

"Oh really! Well what else can you do! Your hammer is over here and I'm blocking it! You can't hit me! I won bitch!"

That's when Amy snapped her fingers and another hammer appeared in her hand.

"HOLY CRAP!"

_That's it for this chapter. Please review with lots of cool words and opinions on the chapter. Next one is coming up soon!_


	27. Chapter 27

_I'm ready and super charged for some great chapter writing. I've been completely inspired after buying Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity for my PS2. It was awesome! Hope you all enjoy this._

**Chapter 26: Destiny**

_3-way villa: Dessert Region 9:18 am_

"Arrrgh! Come back here and face the full blunt force of my hammer you BASTARD!"

"Heeeeeeeeeell NO! Get away from me bitch!" Igneous kept running across the desert terrain while dodging hammer after hammer in many attempts to avoid being turned into a crater.

Knuckles ran closely behind them snickering and thinking this entire situation was somewhat amusing.

"STOP CALLING ME A FANGIRLISH WHINING VOICED WHORE!" Amy shouted while swinging her newest hammer across the air.

"What! I never said that!" Igneous couldn't believe it. He the almighty 'He who smoked bitches' was getting smoked by a bitch!

Igneous looked far ahead of himself and saw that they were nearing the Ice region. 

"Isn't that where Karst is suppose to be? Awesome! If I find him maybe he can help me�escape from this crazy whore."

"I HEARD THAT!" Amy shouted while bombarding Igenous with another unnecessary pile of hammers.

"DAMNIT! STOP THROWING THOSE AT ME!

_Ice cap castle: Ice cap zone of 3-way villa-9: 20 am_

Metal Sonic still sat there at his lone table. Empty castle, empty seats, and an enormously huge amount of wasted space surrounded him and secluded him into deep confinement. This was his new occupation. He is a follower of Darkness but still took orders from Eggman by order of his new master.

It was power; simply power that gave him the strength to wait. The promise of more power than any robot of any kind had ever been graced with in this lifetime. 

Armed with this knowledge he continued to wait even though he didn't consider it in his best interest to. So he waited and he waited…

_Hidden Village: Green Hill zone of 3 way villa-9:21 am_

Strobe had finally reached the village and quickly scanned the area. Robots were everywhere! They shot bullets at random places not really caring who they hit. Many of them gathered outside of Princess Patella's medical palace and began shooting at the doors. 

It didn't take a genius to tell that she was in danger.

Strobe immediately sparked up his hands and bolted toward the palace as quick as he could. He zipped straight through the courtyard of the palace so fast that it set off an electrical surge that destroyed mainly all the robots. Each one in front of the palace exploded while Strobe stood there and waited for their parts to hit the ground and confirm they were defeated.

Afterward he punched in the palace doors and blasted his way to Patella's room. Terrified of what he might see lie beyond that door he ripped the door off of it's hinges and turned to face her. 

Instead of her, however, he was greeted painfully by a foot in the face. The lightning themed commander fell backward and brought his hand to his bruised nose on instinct.

Although he was dazed he still had a pretty good idea of what had hit him.

"Sorry, bolt boy I'm not letting you harm this princess." Remarked the 11-year-old hero, Sonic the Hedgehog. He stood there with his eyes gleaming and his hands outstretched as if to say he was a one-man blockade.

Strobe stood up and stopped rubbing his nose. He let his hand drop down to his side. Then he just stared at the determined boy's face.

"Even if you do love her… you told me about how your ambition and Eggman's is the same. If that true then you really are here to kill her." Sonic explained. 

Behind him was, of coarse, the princess who had just been told by Sonic what was happening. She sat there crying and not wanting to move. She wanted to be comforted and told that everything would be all right. However, the only person who could do that was now the reason for her grief and turmoil.

Strobe watched as the princess sat with her knees up and her head buried in her hands. He felt so incredibly guilty that he almost wished himself dead. It was just like he thought it would end up. Fate was incredibly cruel to him.

"Listen hedgehog… I…"

BOOM!

A crash was heard from the wall behind the princess. Sonic and Strobe immediately faced it in shock. Eggman's robots sure had lousy timing. 

The princess lifted her head up and faced the wall only to be gripped roughly around the waist and carried out of the palace by one of Eggman's E-series flunkies.

"Help! Sonic! Strobe!" She had no idea why she called the help of someone out to kill her, or at least she thought she didn't, but at that moment it didn't matter to her.

"All this mess over a two-tailed monster. Honestly…" Strobe remarked sadly rather then frustratingly. He jumped out of the palace and ran after the robot within the demolished village at an amazing amount of lightning fast speed. Sonic followed suit, however, he wasn't able to accurately catch up to Strobe for some reason.

Strobe had meanwhile destroyed countless robots with his maxim attacks and was nearing the robot. He quickly over took the monstrosity by delivering a swift kick to its chest that cut it into a clean half. The robot capsized and the princess was set free.

Strobe immediately kneeled down to her when she was dropped on the ground. 

"Are you alright?" He sounded very concerned. It sounded like the Strobe she always knew.

"Y-yes… but… aren't you..." Patella didn't know what to say or think. Was Strobe on Eggman's side or Sonic's? Who was he really? She remembers Strobe as being a once lost 12-year-old kid who found his way to their palace one day and was taken in when they realized he had no place left to go.

They were both 12 at the time of his arrival and because of his kind demeanor there was no reason to suspect him. Patella knew it was true… it was true that whatever was happening wasn't Strobe's intention. 

Meanwhile in the ships above them Bokkun had just witnessed the amount of extensive damage that was just done to their robots. 

"Uh-oh! The doctor isn't going to like this." He stated while looking a bit concerned.

"I'm not going to like what?" Eggman suddenly appeared behind him startling the little messenger robo.

"Uh…well…"

Back on the ground Sonic had finally caught up to them.

"Sonic…did you…lie to me?" Patella asked the confused hedgehog.

"L-lie to you? About what? Strobe?" To be perfectly honest, Sonic didn't know whether it was a lie or not himself.

"No princess, I assure you that whatever he told you was the truth." Strobe butted in standing up with the princess in his arms. He was comforting her like he always did when she was frightened. It isn't�everyday that you see your entire village being destroyed by an egg-shaped maniac.

"But if it's true then… why… why are you helping me?" She asked with tears starting to form.

"I'm the one who should be asking that question!" Came that horrible evil force again. All three of them looked up and saw Eggman in his Egg-mobile and Bokkun perched by his side.

"Strobe…please tell me…what the hell do you think you're doing."

There was silence… a very cold and disturbing silence that seemed to linger on forever.

"Doctor… I…" Strobe began.

"Silence traitor!" Bokkun shouted.

"He's no traitor Bokkun. He's just a little… confused. That's all." Eggman seemed to smirk a bit.

"I think we're all confused Eggman. Maybe it would help if you provided us with the answers seeing as you're the only one here who knows exactly what's going on.

"Oh yes! I assure you I know everything about anything that you wish to know." Eggman sneered.

"Yeah he does! He's the great Doctor Eggman!" Bokkun said happily.

"Okay then 'Great Doctor Eggman' then tell me what you did to Strobe to make him act this way. Oh, and while you're at it, tell me where EXACTLY Tails is." Sonic shouted clearly angered.

"Didn't Strobe tell you he was in the Ice region?" Eggman said while nonchalantly picking his ear behind his goggles.

"Err! I said exactly where he is!"

"And as for Strobe… I've done nothing wrong! He's the one who came to me seeking help all those years ago. It's his fault!" Eggman said rather harshly.

"Liar!" The princess shouted below getting Eggman's attention. "Strobe cares about me! He cares about everyone in the village…"

"What village? All I see is a bunch of burned down buildings and dead bodies."

That little statement prompted everyone to remember the situation that was at hand. They all looked around and saw the terrain. The area was filled with burned down buildings and dead bodies just as the doctor stated. All that remained were Eggman's silver robots.

"It's sad." Eggman spoke again with his head resting on his fist. "If that little brat had just shown himself earlier and stopped resisting me I probably would've disregarded this village and they might've lived for a couple more days. HOHOHOHO!"

"EGGMAN! I've had enough of you now tell me what I want to know!" Sonic wanted answers and now.

"Sonic. Please stop. Eggman was right. It was my fault." Strobe spoke up walking beside the hedgehog. Tears had formed in his eyes but his expression of half-consciousness stayed the same.

"What do you mean? Eggman clearly manipulated you into believing that his ambition was yours as well. If you'd just…"

"Listen to me. I went to him seeking help years ago when I was a kid. I was a nothing but a meaningless shell. After 'his' death I couldn't go on living the way I lived by my standards. I thought I was evil and seeked a new path to follow but cautioned myself not to follow my own ambition."

"Huh? B-but that doesn't make any sense.�You hooked up with someone evil because you didn't wish to be evil. What was wrong with your ambition? And also, who was this 'he' that died?" This whole story confused Sonic.

"My brother… he died when he was only 5… and I killed him."

Sonic stood there amazed, as did the princess. Eggman merely smirked and chuckled to himself.

"Y-you're joking right? Y-you didn't really…"

"At the time I thought it was an accident but after a while I realized it was my fault."

"You're probably blaming yourself to harshly again. Just listen to yourself. You love this princess, you love this village, you love basically everything here and yet you claim Eggman's ambition is yours. That makes no sense."

"Actually, it sort of does." Eggman cut in. "You see, Strobe became one of my commanders when he realized that it was useless to resist the painful fact that he had failed at being an older brother. He believed that he was evil and foolishly came to me for help when I beckoned him to me."

Sonic didn't understand it. Eggman was flat out telling Strobe that he had been foolish and Strobe still showed no signs of stopping this crazy insisting. He could tell by the look on the commander's face.

"After that," Eggman continued. "I gave him what he needed to begin a new life. I had my robots train him, take care of him, sent him to Patella's village, and placed a little bomb in his head to insure he didn't try to escape. You know, the basics."

"What?" Both Sonic and the Princess turned to Strobe, who now had his eyes closed as if he were pondering something.

"Strobe! You can't still believe that you and him…" Sonic began but�Eggman just interjected.

"Go on and tell them what you're thinking Strobe…EXACTLY what you're thinking. If I don't feel that you're telling them everything you're thinking then I'll press the little button I've got in my coat and it's�by, by, brainy."

Strobe sighed then spoke again.

"Everything Eggman wishes of me I must do or else he'd activate that bomb he put in my brain. It never used to be a problem before because I believed that I was evil and it was my destiny to do evil things but after I met you Patella…"

Patella looked into Strobe's eyes with huge concern and fear for Strobe in hers.

"… After I met you I fell in love… and I decided that despite what Eggman told me… I'd never harm you." Strobe held her hands and Patella began to cry. Bokkun began to cry too while Eggman made gagging sounds with his mouth.

"So… you only do what you do because you believed it was your destiny to become evil after your brother's death. You're judging yourself to harshly!" Sonic shouted.

"Perhaps, but it's too late. Eggman already has his hold over me." Strobe pointed out.

"That I do. And that being said; Strobe I command you to kill the princess and Sonic or I'll

�press my little button.

"… D-doctor…what are you…

"You heard me! It's show time! I'm tired of this talking so I want to see some fireworks fly!"

Strobe stood there for a brief second then sighed.

"You can't escape from you're feelings no matter how hard you try." He whispered while still holding Patella's hands.

"Huh?" Eggman and Bokkun leaned in closer for a better hearing range.

"I'm sorry Eggman but I can't kill the princess… something in my heart commands me not to."

"Well, your heart's not gonna do you any good without a brain to go with it." Eggman said while holding up the button. Sonic's sweat dropped as he watched the scene unfold.

What happened next surprised everyone.

"**32 Kilowatt Maxim!"**

A battle cry was called out and a shout of pain was heard across the landscape. It was so quiet after the attack that you could hear the victim's blood dripping on the ground.

"S-Strobe… h-how could you…" The princess asked clearly shocked.

"Heh heh! That a boy!" Eggman shouted still a little disappointed though.

It was clear from the grunting from Sonic's mouth that he was still alive after taking Strobe's attack head on. Eggman didn't like that. 

_Ice wasteland: Ice Cap zone of 3-way Villa._

"Ah man… is everyone all right?" Vector asked as he poked his head up from the snow.

"You mean besides the whiplash and the sprained ego then yeah I'm fine." Espio remarked as he slowly lifted his leg to stand up. When he did he shook his head a bit and looked around the area.

"I don't think you can get whiplash if you don't have a neck." Vector said while also standing up.

"Where�is�Charmy… and the fox?" Espio asked ignoring Vector's comment.

Soon they both heard small crying coming from a short distance. They both turned to face the direction in which the small cries came from. 

It didn't take long for them to reach their destination as they had only walked about 10 steps until they came across two small and frightened figures sitting on the snow.

Charmy was crying softly into Tails' chest while Tails hugged the small bee reassuringly and cried as well. Vector and Espio felt bad for them. They were experiencing a situation that kids their age should never have to deal with. 

Espio kneeled down and helped the two up. Charmy still clung to Tails' warm fur as a way of still feeling safe while Espio led them across the snow toward the mountains where they were now headed. 

Vector, however, remained behind for a second and analyzed the terrain. He could've sworn he had felt a frightening presence nearby. It wasn't his imagination and he knew it. Karst had survived that crash somehow and was approaching them as silently as an assailant. 

He wasn't going to like telling the others this but he had to in order to insure they stayed alert. He really couldn't believe this was all happening. They found out why Sonic and Tails were on the run from the police a while ago and didn't really think much of it at first.

However, all the Chaotix thought about at the time was paying the rent.

The newspaper that Espio found back in Future City stated that it was a two-tailed fox that had killed many residents at the mall and had escaped with the now former hero of Mobius, Sonic the Hedgehog. Vector just assumed the fox was an insane grown male, not a four-year-old fox. 

Saying a four-year-old fox killed so many people at the mall and was able to escape from the military's top G.U.N agents and robots in one day didn't make sense ANYWAY you hear it. 

The detective sighed at how careless he had previously been and turned to follow Espio and the others. At least that's what he tried to do but he couldn't move. He looked down at his feet and saw ice accumulating on them. That was weird because he knew he hadn't been in the snow very long, not to mention his element was fire…

He tried to move again and found that he couldn't even wiggle his finger. He was frozen…

_A little farther ahead_

Tails had noticed that his kitsune powers had been dormant for a while now. He didn't know if that was good or bad depending on the situation. It was good in the sense that Charmy; whom he was still clinging to, and Espio; who still walked worriedly beside them, wouldn't get hurt or killed because of him.

It was bad in the premise that if they were attacked Tails could do very little to prevent anything from happening. Tails hated feeling useless. Even worse, he hated it when people hated him. All this was happening because of him and he wanted it to end. 

Why? Why can't it end?

_'You're so close…'_

Tails stopped walking which in turn prompted Charmy to stop as well. 

"…Tails." Charmy hovered by the fox and tugged on him lightly, wondering why they stopped in the cold snow. Espio had also noticed Tails had stopped and turned to face them while deciding to wait for them. He knew they were scared and whatever reason they had for stopping was probably a decent one. If it took too long, however, he'd just take them back with him on the trail.

Tails stood there frozen and scared. That voice in his head! That horrid voice was back.

"You're so close." Tails repeated.

_'Yes! Young Miles, you are so very close…'_

"Wha?" Charmy asked hearing what Tails unknowingly said out loud.

"So close…" Tails said again.

_'You're but a few miles away from achieving your goal. So much death is headed this world's way and you shall be the cause of it all… can you not wait?'_

"…" Tails just stared out into space with a look of pure horror on his face. The look on his face completely scared Charmy stiff.

_'Keep going Miles… move faster…do not wait for these unimportant people any longer. They're just holding you up and I KNOW you realize this.'_

"…N-no…"

_'Hmhmhmhm…what's wrong… did something happen? You seem… troubled by my voice…'_ The voice chuckled to itself.

"T-Tails…n-no what?" Charmy tugged on the little fox's fur.

"…No!" Tails repeated.

"What's going on?" Espio noticed how Tails began to sweat and fidget. None of them noticed, however, that a huge trail of ice began to materialize behind Espio. 

_'It's getting closer… and so are you… It's that time again.'_

"NO! NO! GO AWAY!" Tails shouted clutching his head in more than obvious pain as the ice behind Espio drew even closer.

"Why does Tails want me away?" Charmy asked the fox but the only answer given was a whole bunch of muffled words. 

The ice encircled around Espio's legs.

_'Give in and MOVE!'_

"No! I can't… S-Sonic… S-Sonic wouldn't like it… he'd be sad… I don't want Sonic to be sad because of me! NOT AGAIN!" 

Chamry began tugging on Tails' arm and pleaded for him to stop.

"Tails is scary! Stop Tails! Pwease! Pwease stop!" 

**"ARRRRRGGGH!"**

"Huh?" Tails asked looking ahead of himself. The loud scream didn't come from Tails nor Charmy. It came from…

"ESPO!" Charmy yelled.

"Espo? You mean Espio?" Tails tried to make sense of what he was seeing but his eyes, for some reason, couldn't make out what was in front of him. 

"Wow! Now that was incredibly easy." Spoke a very triumphant voice. Tails noticed the voice had malice just like the one he had heard in his head but it was a different voice.

_'Now Miles! It's time!'_ Now this was the voice in his�head. As if it mattered. They were both scary to Tails.

"T-time! Time for what?" Tails' vision began to return.

"Espo! Espo!"

"HAHAHAHA! Stop crying you annoying insect! You look pathetic!"

_'It's time Miles! Now is the time!'_

Tails' couldn't take this. It was too much. 

"So many voices… I can't tell whose is whose… Now's the time for what!" The confused fox asked himself.

_'Now is the time to FIGHT!'_

Suddenly Tails' vision became clear, however as soon as it did he immediately wished it hadn't.

Charmy was crying uncontrollably and what lied ahead of Tails told him why. Behind Espio was the very being they had escaped from not long ago. The child murderer and now Eggman flunky stood there looking more than smug. The ice themed commander Karst Ice had somehow gotten ahead of them and attacked! It was too late to realize this now, however.

In Karst's hand was a once air piercing; now flesh piercing dagger made of ice. In front of him was blood. Dripping all around the front of his body was blood. 

It dripped down Espio's back for that was where the dagger had pierced.

Tails saw the scene in front of him. The look on Espio's face was that of someone who had seen a ghost, as was the look on the terrified fox's face now. It seemed as though time had stopped and Tails had lost all his senses. 

_'Do you see now young one… this is the destiny of all your friends.'_

Karst forcefully pulled the dagger out of Espio's back.

_'And as the fate of your friends become ever more clear so does the fate of you yourself.'_

The chameleon's head fell forward.

_'They shall all die… and now you Miles…'_

Espio hit the ground with a thud while a strange energy began to engulf Tails. The only sound heard was that of Charmy's crying.

_'…You shall FIGHT!'_

"ESPIO!" Tails shouted all of a sudden catching Karst off guard. 

"Ah I see… It's been born again… that annoying kitsune that destroyed my palace is back… and coincidentally shall DIE TODAY!"

Tails looked straight into Karst's face. He aurora was purple and his fur was black. Tails didn't care what he was blabbering about. He had had enough with all the voices. As of now the only voice that was allowed to speak was his.

"Honestly, It's a shame that such a young fox with so much potential had to be secluded to that blue…"

Karst didn't get to finish as a strange purple gas chopped his arm clear off. 

"Arrgh! What the! How'd you…?"

"Say another word and you're dead."

"…"

"…**Oh what am I saying? You're dead either way you BASTARD!**"

_Well I hoped you liked this chapter. I'll update again soon yada yada yada. REVIEW PLEASE! I'm off to do some boring studying._


	28. Chapter 28

Time for the shocking and barrier shattering, glass breaking, Earth shaking…uhhh…I can't think of any more phrases

**Time for the shocking and barrier shattering, glass breaking, Earth shaking…uhhh…I can't think of any more phrases. Well, anyway this chapter is really good so Read and Review.**

_**I've realized that I haven't done any disclaimer's since I've started this story so I'll do one now. Umm… I don't own Sonic, the characters, or the series. They all belong to SEGA and yada, yada, yada. Not bad for my first one huh?**_

**Chapter 27: Cruel intent! Hang Nail's message! **

"It seems we have reached an impasse." Stated Karst Ice as he looked at the field in front of him.

A motionless and bloody chameleon lied in the snow, a 2-year-old bee crying over the chameleon, and a demonic, power-erupted, and extremely pissed off kitsune.

Well, two out of three ain't bad.

"I'm gonna kill you for all that you did! You're an evil monster who doesn't deserve to live! You tried to kill all of Sonic's friends and his parents…"

"Yup."

"You beat me up and forced Sonic into bowing down to you!"

"Sure did!"

"STOP AGREEING WITH ME!"

"Why? Everything you're saying is right! I did do all those things. Oh and guess what after our little bout I'm going to continue doing what I do." Karst said as smug as ever.

"I seriously doubt that!" The kitsune grinned menacingly.

'_What's the matter with you Miles.'_ Came that voice again.

"Shut up Darkness! Isn't this what you wanted! You know, _'Fight Miles! Fight!'_ remember?"

_'That's not what I'm referring to! The way you're acting! I can read your thoughts and there is no strategy in it. All I see in your mind is the transfixed motion to kill! After all this time you can't seriously tell me that you still don't have a handle over your kitsune power!'_

"Shut the hell up! I fight my own way! The reason there is no strategy in my head is because there really isn't the need for one. All I have to do is tear him apart and then it's done."

_'Wake up! If you had any kind of mental reasoning within you then you'd probably see the need for a strategy right in front of you!'_ Darkness was getting extremely impatient and frustrated. He couldn't believe how inexperienced the kit still was after all this time. It was apparent to him that this was a four-year-old but he was also a very intelligent four-year-old with deductive reasoning that made college professors look like drooling idiots.

Why was he still unable to translate all of that reasoning into his kitsune power form?

"Ha! All I see in front of me is a crazed lunatic about to get his body hacked apart!" Tails had a smile of insanity on his face when he said that blood lusting statement. The ice themed commander stood there looking extremely bored. With one hand on his hip and the other still lying in the snow he contemplated his situation.

It was all very boring to him, however Tails didn't know that.

_'I'm more than disappointed in you Miles…'_

"Why should I care? I've got more power then that ice bastard will ever have!" The kitsune boasted while Karst began to yawn.

_'Look at him! Closely this time…'_

"Screw you! I gonna kill him!" With that Tails finally charged at Karst.

_'Not listening to me will be your undoing!'_

"Finally! You decide to attack! I had thought your resolve to kill me had drained away within two seconds after cutting my arm off!" Karst said not even flinching as the kitsune made his way toward him.

"SHUT UP!" Tails came up to Karst and lashed out his fist. However, all that resulted was a loud clang.

Tails looked in front of him and saw Karst… piercing Tails with a knife!

"Oh, so sorry! It seems I disappointed you didn't I. You thought you were going to kill me didn't you?" Karst said with a hint of superiority in his voice.

The surprised kitsune looked at the ice dagger that now pierced his skin. The purple aurora around his body flowed into the dagger and then straight into Karsts' body.

"W-what are you doing?" Tails asked clearly irritated.

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm using this nifty device inside my dagger to absorb your power. Seriously, I thought you were suppose to be some kind of super genius."

Tails struggled to break free by trying to tug Karst's dagger out of his chest but as expected it didn't work.

"Awe, isn't that cute? You want to break free don't you? But you can't CAN you!" Karst taunted.

Tails continued to try and escape.

"Don't worry. I'm almost done. I'm not going to absorb all of your power. Just enough so we can have a decent fight. You see I haven't had one in a long, long time and it seems a good a time as any to try a new style of killing out."

Tails tugged harder and harder but something constricted him and didn't allow him to move. It seemed as though no matter how much power he had the amount that was to flow to Karst would in fact flow to Karst.

"Heh heh. Guess what?" Karst said suddenly. Tails looked up and was met with a punch in the face that sent him flying. He didn't fly but a few feet until he plopped onto his back into the snow.

"I'm done." The ice fiend laughed then let his dagger dematerialize back into his body.

Charmy had seen the entire event and didn't understand any of it. However, when he saw Tails land in the snow he immediately flew over to him to try and help. The little bee grabbed Tails' hand and tried pulling him up only to be shoved away harshly by the now half-kitsune powered kid.

Charmy fell backward into the snow and almost cried. Why was Tails acting so mean all of a sudden? What was going on?

Tails sat up and growled in frustration. His purple aurora was weak, his fur had changed back to his original orange color, and his fangs were almost back to their original shape. The only thing that remained the same from his full powered kitsune form was the blood red eyes.

Karst looked different as well. He had an aurora too and his body seemed to sparkle a nice blue-purple color.

"Wow, Eggman wasn't kidding when he said this was an extremely unique power. I've never felt so awesome in my life!" Karst awed at his power while Tails began to wonder and contemplate his situation.

"I don't get it! What was that! I thought this kitsune power was suppose to be…ALL powerful or something." Tails complained.

_'Miles! You incompetent fool! I said…'_

"I know! If I looked in front of me I would see why I'd need to make a strategy. But it was just a dagger why should I…"

_'You're STILL not thinking clearly!'_ Darkness shouted. _'His face Miles! His face! If you looked at the features on his face it would've been more than clear that he wasn't at all worried about facing you. As one of Eggman's commanders he was obviously told about how much power you posses so it would be assumed that he would be afraid. But he wasn't. Do you see it NOW!'_

Tails sat there feeling ashamed of himself. How could he miss something so obvious? Something still bothered him about what Darkness said though.

"How does he know?" Tails asked grunting slightly.

"Who?"

"Eggman! How did he find out about the amount of power a kitsune has?"

_'I informed him of it years ago during our four way alliance. It was me, him, Smokestack and Bear Mayor.'_

Tails only got angrier when he heard the name Bear Mayor. That evil tyrant who passed that awful law on Westside Island that anyone without perfection shall be killed or at least doomed to a horrible life. Tails had been grateful that he was killed by Smokestack but the sound of his name was still enough to infuriate his soul.

_'Our alliance broke when Smokestack killed Bear Mayor on that second-rate island of yours and it immediately became every man for himself. I should've known Eggman would've tried to invent something to redirect the kitsune power into his robots considering he can't destroy it.'_

"I guess this proves that some good did come out of my time as Eggman's slave. I know basically all his secrets and have access to all his magnificent gadgets. The small device that was inside my dagger is now inside me, but not to worry. I won't use it in our fight. What kind of challenge would this be if I cheated like that." Karst explained.

"D-damn you!" Tails struggled to stand up and when he did the weariness he felt earlier vanished.

"Looks like your ready to start. Lets see who truly has a better handle over this power then, shall we?" Karst shouted while jamming his fist in the snow. About a second later another arm sprouted out of the hole in the side of Karst's body.

"Darkness… you… tell me what to do next…" Tails demanded.

"Darkness!"

_'… Sorry but… there is something I must attend to… handle it yourself!'_ with that Darkness fled from Tails' mind.

"Figures! The ONE time I want him around…!"

_Desert Region of 3 way-villa_

"I see it! Almost there!" Igneous was still making his way across the desert when he suddenly realized something. It just him like a ton of bricks.

"Why the hell am I running?" With that he skidded to a stop and slammed his foot in the sand.

Amy and Knuckles had finally caught up to him.

"Finally! I thought that you'd never…" Began Knuckles before he was interrupted the still pissed off pink hedgehog.

"So did you finally stop to except your fate!?" Amy shouted while holding up her hammer as threateningly as ever.

"Hell no! I just realized who I am! I am Igneous Rock! I am the legendary 'He who smoke's bitches! The only dude who sold his Oreo Cakster for instant lottery tickets…"

"You can't sell Oreos for instant lottery tickets." Knuckles cut in. Igneous stopped and began to think up a comeback.

"…Yeah… well… Dracula called and uh… he's coming tonight!"

Knuckles didn't get it, nor did Amy.

"… What? Are you some kind of…"

"HEY! I'm not as think as you drunk I am."

"… I mean I'm not as drunk as you think I am! Damnit! You confused me bitch! For this you die!" Igneous shouted as he slammed his foot in the sand a second time. Knuckles had no idea what the robot was talking about or why he was confusing himself with completely random phrases from T.V shows but barely had time to contemplate it as the Earth below them began to shake.

"Behold the power of the bitch smoker (that's me) and the devastation he brings forth to the bitch smoketts (that's you)." He shouted as the Earth began to shake harder.

Amy and Knuckles knew something was coming up from the ground. However, they didn't know what.

"Guess what bitches! I have the power to control rocks! Ultra powered Giant Boulder COME ON DOW-err-UP!

Judging by the amount of increased turbulence in the ground it seemed like he was right and eventually something did shoot out of the ground from under their feet. However, it wasn't what Knuckles or Amy considered amazing.

There in front of them lied a moldy pebble.

"Oh… was this it?" Knuckles sweat dropped while the robot began to laugh.

"I know! It's heart stopping isn't it?" Igneous continued to laugh idiotically, so much so that even the pebble gave an exaggerated sweat drop.

"Yes! Cower! Cower at its mi-" Igneous began before getting hit in the face with another of Amy's hammers. He fell into the sand with a huge plop while Knuckles began to shake his head.

"Come on now!" The impatient echidna boasted. "If this is all you've got then I'm…"

"Shut up! I'm not done! I obviously didn't pick the right boulder so…"

"Did you even consider that the power to control rocks probably wouldn't work so well in an area surrounded by sand?"

"No because usually when I do the boulder summoning technique a huge boulder comes from out of the ground and rockets the person I'm fighting into the air. Everywhere on Mobius has rocks! It doesn't matter if it's a desert or not! Don't you know a thing about geology?"

"You know he's right about that Knuckles. Did you even think before you said something so stupid?" Amy agreed which angered the echidna.

"BITCH! Don't agree with him! He's the idiot who told us to cower in fear of a pebble!"

"Well excuse me for having a second opinion!"

"You're both crazy!" Knuckles shouted.

"Am not! I still remember what that bastard said about me!" Amy turned around only to be hit in the face with the pebble that Igneous just brought up. It happened so fast that no one but Igneous saw it coming. The pebble was thrown fierce enough to cause her head to bleed. Amy tumbled back a bit and fell unconscious into Knuckles' arms.

"Hey! Why'd you…" Knuckles was interrupted again for what seemed like the umpteenth time.

"You like what I did back there? I really wanted to fight you echidna but that pink hedgehog was getting in the way… not to mention she was scary as hell. So I came up with a little plan to get her to turn her back while I chuckled a pebble at her head fast enough to knock her out. Ingenious right?"

"So you did all this just so you and I could fight?"

"Yup."

"Well why didn't you tell me earlier? I would've gladly knocked her out for you so we could spar with each other!"

"…You… you would've."

"HELL YES!!"

"Some partner you are!"

"I know you don't care about that so come on! Show me what you've got! This is my opportunity to test the amount of skill I've gained from training on that floating hunk of rock all my life." Knuckles said referring to Angel Island.

"Good! Let's see what you've got!" Igneous said as he charged at Knuckles. Knuckles took a deep breath and lashed out as well.

_'Brawn vs. Brawn huh? This outta be fun.'_ He thought.

_Green Hill village: Green Hill zone of 3-way villa_

"This pain is… probably nothing compared to what you're going through huh?" Sonic asked as he clutched his stomach. Small amounts of blood escaped his mouth as he spoke. The princess, Eggman, and Bokkun merely looked on as the scene in front of them unfolded.

Strobe stood as silent as ever. He realized what he did. He didn't like it. He didn't like any of it. However, he had to do it in order to stay on Eggman's good side. If he didn't remain on Eggman's good side then Eggman would press the button in his hand and he'd die.

He couldn't die yet. He had to insure that the princess stayed safe after his death at all costs.

"You're probably right… however the pain I feel emotionally can't be compared to the pain you must feel inside." Strobe said suddenly.

Sonic struggled to his feet and let his arms sag to his sides. After wiping away the access blood on his lips he spoke up again.

"What do you mean by the pain I feel inside?"

"Your little brother." Strobe stated calmly. "He's in danger and you feel as though you've betrayed him and his trust for you because he was captured by Karst."

Sonic smiled slightly then allowed himself to chuckle.

"You're right… I do feel guilty…but…but I still feel like you're the one whose suffering more. Come to think of it we're sort of alike."

"Because of our little brothers?"

"Yeah… and our sense of speed of coarse."

That little statement made Strobe smile and almost chuckle.

"Yes… and our sense of speed. However, it doesn't matter how much we have in common. It will not get in the way of this fight!"

"Gotcha! Let's go!" The hedgehog said putting his gloved fists up.

_Ice Cap Castle: Ice Cap zone of 3-way villa_

Metal Sonic was getting impatient. This excessive waiting was unbearable and undeniably a huge waste of his valuable time.

He remembered doing tedious jobs before such as using Eggman's portal to set up small devices on different planets as a request by Darkness for some odd reason still unknown to him. He remembered stalking the two-tailed fox basically around the entire island for days before Eggman finally raided the place.

He even remembered the first fight he had with Sonic.

However, none of those jobs were as annoying and time consuming as simply waiting for some ice covered bastard who was totally full of himselfto show up at some abandoned castle for him.

One day he would become an overlord and not have to take orders from anyone. He'd make sure that it would happen.

As for now all he could do was continue to wait…

_Over the desert region of 3-way villa_

"Are we there yet?" Rouge asked again feeling extremely bored.

"I won't answer that considering you're smart enough to figure the answer out yourself." Smokestack said as dull and as serious as ever.

Rouge just sighed and turned to Big and Froggy beside her who were both sleeping.

"You're life must be really exciting huh?" She said sarcastically and chuckled to herself. Suddenly they were met with a small turbulence.

"Huh? What was that?" The curious bat looked out the window and gasped. "Uh, Smokey…"

"Yeah I know. We flew straight into a fleet of ships. These must be Eggman's warships." Smoke said back.

"Why so many?" Rouge asked in awe, as she looked at all the Eggman ships.

"The time for it is coming closer. I must hurry or I won't be able to exact revenge." Smoke said while gritting his teeth.

Another bump to the ship happened which woke Big and Froggy.

"Huh? What's going on?" The confused cat asked as he looked around.

""It's nothing! We're just in a war zone. No biggie Big." The thief assured him while Smoke merely ignored their conversation.

"I don't care what Eggman does or what Darkness says. I will exact my revenge on that fox and bring peace to my clan."

_Icicle valley: Ice cap zone of 3-way villa_

"Mr. Hang Nail when are we going back to our mommies and daddies!" Cried a small child of about four years of age.

"I told ya kid! Your parents are dead! So quit ask'n me when ya gonna see 'em again! That goes for all you brats!" Hang Nail shouted harshly to the group of kids he had kidnapped from the village.

They were stationed in Icicle Valley, an area where sound didn't seem to escape from no matter how loud it was. It was the perfect place for Hang Nail's little test.

"Okay kids! Listen up!" The half-robotic purple Jaguar shouted out to everyone. The small group of crying boys and girls began to shake from the cold air of the snow.

"This is how it's gonna go down! We're gonna have ourselves a little survival test amongst you all! It's a little sprawl among you whining brats to see who among you is the strongest!"

All the kids looked scared and cold. Some of them were animals and some were humans but they were all just kids. Why should they have to fight one another?

"U-um M-Mr. Hang Nail…?" asked the same four-year-old.

"Boy you sure do ask a lot of questions. They outta call you 20-Q. What is it?"

"What do we get after we fight?"

"… Why the privilege of delivering my message to Two-Tail."

"Two-Tail?"

"Yeah, Homeless Two Tail. The biggest disgrace to ever hit Westside Island is here and I need a message delivered to him. However, I don't feel like going anywhere and the conditions out in the snow our pretty tough… well though for you, not for me. Anyway, these are the reasons I need someone to go deliver the message for me and it has to be the strongest one here. That's what you get! The honor of informing Two-Tail of his upcoming doom for me!"

"…" The kid was silent.

"Now, if you're all ready. Let's begin." Hang Nail reached behind a rock and pulled out a gym bag. His back was now turned to the kids.

"We've gotta get out of here!" Said one boy with a shovel in his hand. Before he was kidnapped he was apparently digging a hole in his mother's yard.

"Yeah but how?" Asked a girl with a softball bat. She had been practicing playing the game with her dad before she was kidnapped.

"His back is turned to us. Maybe we can knock him out quickly without him noticing and run away as fast as we can!" Responded the boy. A lot of the other kids nodded in agreement except the kid who had asked Hang Nail all those questions.

The kid had green eyes, black hair, and he wore a white t-shirt and blue shorts. It was needless to say that he was freezing in the snow because of his clothes.

"I don't think this is such a good idea." He spoke up with a look of worry on his face.

"You're stupid! This is our only chance so lets go!" Said the boy with the shovel as he charged at Hang Nail with the girl with the bat by his side.

They both jumped and successfully hit Hang Nail over the head with their weapons.

Time seemed to have stopped right there. When it started back up again there was chuckling and whimpering.

Both the bat and shovel turned into thin strips of metal and hit the snow. Both the boy and girl were scared stiff. All that was left of the weapons they were holding were the handles. Not only didn't they move, they couldn't move because Hang Nail had his arms around their shoulders.

"Your right it was your only chance. However, you would've been a little more successful if you idiot brats didn't do all that annoying talking back there. I'd say it would've given you at least a five-step head start before I hacked the both of you apart."

The two frightened kids stood still and began to cry slowly.

"You two are obviously less than worthy to deliver my message. In order to survive these harsh conditions you have to be smart and judging by what you just did I'd say you were the dumbest of the group."

A second later a large slash was heard and the two kids were suddenly on the ground in their own heap of blood.

All the kids there began to whimper and cry in tremendous fear.

"Okay… after that annoying display you all tried to pull I've decided to do this a different way."

Everyone began to shake and shiver as they wondered what was to befall them.

"Instead of pitting you all against each other I've decided to hit you with my newest attack. It pretty straight forward really. Being a jaguar I move very fast.Originally not as fast as a cheetah mind you but still pretty fast. However, after the little upgrade I got from Eggman I'm able to move faster than ever before. When I realized this I created a new attack that's purely based on luck."

Everyone continued to listen while Hang Nail brought up his sharp claws.

"You see what I do is dive into you kids with my eyes closed and use my nose to detect whether I'm attacking one of you. I'll move so fast and strike you down so quickly that none of you will see it coming. The last one standing will be deemed the strongest considering I'm planning on hitting all of you at least twice."

That's when everyone stopped listening and began to freak out. They all ran into different directions except for the kid wearing the blue shorts and white t-shirt. He knew it was useless and found it sort of annoying that everyone didn't just except their fate.

"You all ready… I call this my **Surudoi assault**!" Hang Nail said as he lashed out at all the poor children.

This is what he had become.

_Ice Mist area: Ice Cap zone of 3-way villa_

"Well then come on fox boy! Show me the power of this so called legendary kitsune!" Karst said as he launched himself at Tails for what seemed like the fifth time in a row.

Tails' first instinct was to jump, which he did. He then flipped in the air and tried to land a kick at Karst's back. Karst, however, quickly put his feet in the snow, turned his arm, and elbowed Tails in his stomach.

The fox flipped backward and landed on his feet with amazing grace. Karst then allowed his hand to jet outward and form a sword made of ice.

"Guess you don't understand the seriousness of the situation if you have time to do pretty little flips in the air." The ice themed maniac lashed out at Tails with a fury of sword swipes at an unbelievable speed.

The fox easily dodged them all and clamped his hand down on the sword to discontinue the annoying slashes. Karst merely smiled and let another sword materialize into his other hand and quickly began bashing at his clamped sword in an attempt to break through.

"Come on fox! All I've seen you do so far is defend. Don't tell this is all you've got to show after all the trouble my former master went through just to set up a capture plan for you!"

"Err… Damnit!" The still dark powered kitsune grunted. Eventually Karst was successful and his sword broke through his other one. It came at Tails so fast it nearly cut his head off. However, Tails quickly ducked his head and sent a kick strait to Karst's chest.

The attack hit and Karst tumbled backward. Tails didn't hesitate to launch himself at Karst and deliver some well-deserved punches to his body. The frustrated kitsune continued to strike Karst with a barrage of punches until Karst's body began to crack.

With one last shout Tails brought his foot around and struck Karst in the back. The hit sent Karst flying behind Tails and soon he was tumbling in the snow.

Karst eventually used his hand to ricochet off the ground and launched himself in the air. By that Time Tails had turned back around.

"That was a nice move, but it wasn't nice enough!" Karst tossed four daggers at Tails while he was still in the sky. The fox quickly swiped them away while he ran forward. As soon as Karst landed Tails jumped toward him to deliver another barrage of punches but he quickly retaliated with the ice sword he was still holding.

Eventually Tails grew tired of punching the sword so he dived below Karst and kicked the weapon out of his hand and sent it flying. He then pulled back his fist and gave Karst a huge uppercut to his chin. However, he didn't stop there. While Karst's head tilted back Tails delivered swift kicks to his already cracked chest as a means of cracking it even more.

His last kick sent Karst spiraling into the snow. Tails landed and began to huff and puff. If he had his full power he knew that Karst would be dead by now. How did Eggman make a device that was able to harness such huge amounts of energy?

"Hahahahahaha! Now THIS is a fight!" Karst said while getting up on one knee.

"Stay down you bastard!" Tails charged at Karst again to deliver a punch but Karst dived in the snow and disappeared.

"Huh?"

"This is my element fox! You can't beat me here!" Karst submerged behind Tails and attempted to punch him however Tails quickly grabbed his fist and flung him over his head.

"Sorry but I don't care which element this is! You're still going down."

Karst just smiled and allowed his legs to transform into spears of ice.

"Really? Well let's see if that's true." Karst then slammed his now extended legs into the snow in front of Tails. Before Tails could point out that he missed a huge shockwave sent Tails and a whole bunch of snow flying. When Tails regained control of himself he stopped his tumbling and fired himself at Karst.

"Back again I see." Karst fixed his legs and punched Tails into the snow as he neared him. He then began firing daggers at Tails in a crazy frenzy. Tails however was able to knock all of them away with his power.

"I won't let you win while using my power against me."

The fox was clearly determined.

_Dessert region of 3-way villa_

Knuckles and Igneous collided their punches for about the one hundredth time and the result was the same. A huge shockwave of sand was sent out across the desert.

They were both pushed back and then were both sent forward again, their resolve to win driving them. This time when they collided they both flipped and landed irregularly. However, they quickly recovered and collided again.

Neither of them realized how much damage the other was causing to them. Even so, they simply didn't care. The only thing that mattered to them was who was left standing after the battle was won.

It became apparent to them that they were both taking damage when their last collision sent them both plummeting to the ground.

"Damn… this guy…" Knuckles said getting up and wiping the blood from his mouth.

"Well this is just perfect!" Igneous said as he got up as well. After about a second of staring at each other they both immediately went back to it again.

_Green Hill village: Green Hill zone of 3-way village._

**"40 Kilowatt Maxim!"** Strobe had fired at Sonic again, which prompted the hedgehog to jump over him to attempt a kick. Strobe swung his arm around and allowed it to strike Sonic in his cheek.

He jumped backward and used his ring to launch himself forward as a ball of sonic speed. Strobe easily kicked Sonic away but the hedgehog refused to continue to stay away. He began bouncing off the derby and used it to rocket around Strobe as a means of confusing him.

This had little effect though.

Strobe quickly outstretched his hands and shouted **"40 kilowatt explosion!"** This caused electricity to expand and jet outward and blast Sonic away. Sonic uncurled himself and noticed Strobe coming at him as he flew toward a wrecked building.

Strobe flew over Sonic's body and tried to punch but Sonic twirled his body so it would fly to the right. Strobe clearly wasn't expecting this and barely noticed that he had crashed into the wrecked building Sonic was headed toward earlier.

When the hedgehog got back on his feet he noticed many bolts of lightning coming right at him.

"Man! This dude sure recovers quickly!" Sonic complained as he began to dodge while jumping backward. That's when Sonic felt Strobe's presence behind him.

"Oh no you don't! You're not getting me with that…" Sonic turned his body around and basically shot his fist straight into Strobe's cheek. "…AGAIN." He finished while smirking.

The commander fell backward and landed hard in the dirt.

"Your skills are good but I don't ever let myself fall for the same crap twice." Sonic said while trying his best to regain his composure. Strobe merely stood up and dusted himself off.

"I expected much from you Sonic." Was all he said before they were at it again.

_Icicle Valley: Ice-Cap zone of 3-way villa_

It was devastating.

Just a second ago there were so many kids that were still alive but now they all lied in front of Hang Nail in a bloody heap. The bully's cruelty knows no bounds and frankly, he didn't care whether it did or not. All he cared about was his rematch with Tails.

The jaguar walked disappointingly among the bodies that surrounded him. Didn't anyone survive that mass hysteria?

"Oh well, guess I'm gonna have to deliver the message my-huh?" Hang Nail didn't finish before something caught his leg. "What's this? A survivor? No frigging way!"

He looked down and saw that same little boy who had asked him all those questions earlier clinging to his leg. There were slash marks on his shirt and his head was bleeding but other than that he looked well enough alive.

"You're that kid who kept annoying me with your questions. What's you name anyway?"

"… Sh-Shimon." The kid said barely above a whisper.

"Shimon? That's a dumb name. Oh well, guess you're the one who delivers my message. Now all I need is some paper and a pen…"

The battles were underway but Darkness still wasn't satisfied. Tails needed to hurry and master his power before it was too late. Coordinates 000 is nearby and so many people hunt him. Smokestack, Eggman, and the G.U.N forces are probably still after him as well.

Even though he wasn't satisfied with Tails' attitude he still couldn't help thinking that things were getting interesting.

_Sorry this took so long to put up. I'm not sure but I think this one was slightly longer than the others. I really appreciate what you guys are saying in your reviews. You cannot believe how happy it makes me feel knowing that you all like this story so much. I'd especially like to thank the people who have been with me the longest like **Raziel777**, and **Shala**, and **Naruto's girlfriend**, and **Silver Shields**, and **if I forgot anyone else I'm sorry**. I'll update soon!_


	29. Chapter 29

_Sorry for the wait, I had some things to take care of before I could get back to the action. Anyway here is one great installment if I do say so myself. Hope you all read and review!_

**Hidden Danger of the Ice! Tails vs. Karst!**

_The Government central de-briefing room- Lockdown Island_

"We need a report on how the war with Eggman is progressing near the green-hill zone." Spoke a man wearing a white coat and harboring two metals on his chest. His face was fierce and his dry black hair supported that belief all the way.

"Commander, I uh…haven't been able to get any leads on how the situation has been progressing…" Said an obviously worried soldier. The man he was talking to had a face that was just plain scary.

"Why the hell not." The Commander asked back with a hint of being irritated. The cold response shot back at the soldier made him shiver and quickly deliver an explanation before his commander decided to get out of hand.

"Well sir…all the ships we sent there were said to have been destroyed by what seemed like a bulky yellow robot. Probably one of Eggman's…"

"OF COARSE IT WAS EGGMAN'S! ARE YOU SAYING THAT ROBOT BELONGED TO US! WHY WOULD THE MILITARY ATTACK THEMSELVES IDIOT!!"

"Y-yes of coarse! S-sorry sir."

"DON'T APOLOGIZE TO ME YOU WUSS! APOLOGIZE TO OUR FLAG!" The commander whipped out a white flag that said G.U.N on it and basically shoved it into the soldier's face.

The soldier just starred at it with a look on his face that said 'What the hell is this?'

"WELL?! APOLOGIZE!"

"I-I'm sorry?

"LOUDER AND WITH FEELING!"

"I'M SORRY!"

"GOOD! Now tell me. Were their any soldiers stationed in that area before the attack and if so have you made contact with them yet." The commander said returning to normality amazingly quick. The soldier seemed not to understand the commander's mood swings but pressed on. After all, it wasn't COMPLETELY impossible to explain things to this man.

"Well sir it was reported that one of our soldier's were able to get far enough into the terrain to receive a signal from one of our government ships. In the report it was said that the ship's number was FF-2376."

"FF-2376? That's one of Commander Smokestack's isn't it? Of coarse from his base in the Frog Forest. I can guess what he's doing there."

"How'd you know it was him?"

"IDIOT! WHY SHOULD I TELL YOU!?"

"Um…"

"Anyway, Smokestack was said to be a special case with the government. He would always go on and on about how he had his own mission to carry out and that he would even betray the government to get what he wished for. Normally the government wouldn't allow such a person in but it's not everyday you find a willing person with the power of nature at his disposal."

"Nature?"

"YES NATURE! FIRE EMITES SMOKE RIGHT?"

"Uh…"

"Anyway it was recognized that as of now he was the last remaining survivor of the Diox clan. They were completely done in by some weird unknown force. Whatever it was it sure pissed off Smokestack."

"…"

"WHAT? SAY SOMETHING!"

"Uh sorry sir…"

Suddenly an extremely suave voice spoke to the two as he walked into room with five other people behind him.

"What's with all the noise in here? I swear we could hear you from the sound prove docking bay." Said the completely calm man. His eyes looked straight toward the commander as he and five others entered the room.

"Ah! I see you six are here! That's great now we can carry out our plan to finally capture this two-tailed fox and end this pointless war."

"The fox?" Asked the man without hesitation.

"Yes, the one responsible for that mass hysteria that occurred at the one of the malls in Station Square a while back. It seems that Smokestack has been patrolling that area by himself and for some reason hasn't been detained by Eggman's robots. We can't completely rely on his tactics as of yet so we're sending you six and one of our greatest G.U.N fleets to that area with this mission."

"And that mission would be?"

"TO CAPTURE THE FOX AND DETAIN ANYONE ON HIS SIDE!"

Completely unaffected by the commander's shout the man smiled and silently said "Gotcha."

"Good. As expected of you Hato." The commander said sitting back and rest his hands on his chairs' arm rests. " Now then Unit 7 of G.U.N investigation patrol, step forward for name call and mission de-briefing."

They six of them stepped forward and stood in a horizontal line.

"I'm Rasshu! Second in command of unit 7." Rasshu said with a cheerful smile on his face. He had blond hair and wore a pink bandana on his head. His eyes were blue and he wore a plain white suit.

"I'm Buru! Training instructor of Unit 7" Buru had spiked black hair and squinted eyes. He looked as though he was made of muscles and boulders with skin on them. He wore golden spiked straps across his chest as well. Their purpose is unknown.

"I'm Shoui. Business and paperwork handler of Unit 7" Shoui was a woman with an eye-patch on her right eye that said G.U.N on it. She had silver hair and wore a black suit.

"I am…a-aaaaachoo! I'm Mardo! I…uh…I forgot what I do." Mardo was big and round with skinny legs. He wore blue shorts and a Hawaiian t-shirt. His hair was red and his nose was pink as he had a cold.

"You are the head of our security division." Hato said informing the round man.

"Oh yeah. That's right. AAAAACHOOO!" Mardo sneezed again.

"I'm Hato! First in command of Unit 7." Hato said. He wore a black tuxedo and had plain straight black hair. His eyes were black and completely focused. What they were focused on was a mystery.

"It's been awhile since were given a mission. This should be fun." Rasshu said while maintaining his happy pose.

"Just leave all the face smashing to me okay!" Buru shouted picking at his spike straps.

"There wouldn't be much of a point sending us all there if you were the only one to do anything." Shoui pointed out while chuckling.

"Oh! You're right! I'm dumb! I'm dumb! I'm so stupid! But seriously lets do our best out there."

"I'm hungry…my stomach hurts…" Mardo complained.

"It probably wouldn't hurt so much if you stopped punching yourself in the stomach." Rasshu pointed out.

"Oh…I am…AAAAACHOOOO!" Mardo stopped punching himself and began to rub the bottom of his nose.

"My goodness! You're all annoying. Just shut up already." Commander Yoki said with head in his hand.

"You're right. We can get a little over excited." Shoui said while chuckling to herself.

"You're right! I should've figured that out! Dumb! Dumb! I'm so dumb! But seriously we really ought to be going." Buru said regaining his composure.

"Hahahaha! This is to be expected of the assassination Unit 7. Always goofing off. Our license to kill sure pays off when it needs to. I can't stand freaks. We'll go teach that fox a thing or two." Rasshu said turning toward the exit. Everyone else did as well.

"… This'll be over as quickly as we can manage it. We'll be back Commander Yoki." Hato said finally speaking up.

"Yeah… take your time." The commander said watching them leave. He looked sort of annoyed yet satisfied at the same time. "The assassination Unit 7…hard to believe such a weird group…was able to kill over 4000 people in less than 3 minutes with out any military aid. People are still raving about that too."

"Um sir." The soldier on the floor spoke up wondering if he shouldn't have.

"What? ARE YOU STILL HERE! GET OUT AND BRING MY SANDELS!" The commander shouted.

"Y-yes sir!" The soldier said. Yup, he should've stayed quiet.

_Dessert Region of 3-way villa_

"You're corn!" Shouted Knuckles ad he ran toward Igneous with his fist back.

"Oh yeah! We'll you're broccoli!" Igneous shouted mirroring Knuckles' move.

They collided yet again then went at it with each other.

"Spinach!"

"Lima bean!"

"BAKED Lima bean!"

"…Oh now you're freakin dead!" Igneous increased the speed of his punches and Knuckles did as well. Eventually they blew themselves apart from each other.

"Okay… I feel as though this is getting us nowhere. Fine then! I'll unleash my most devastating attack." Igneous reached behind him and pulled out... a detached thermostat.

"What is that?" Knuckles didn't lower his fists. Igneous probably had something up his non-existent sleeves.

"Behold the thermo…..STAT!"

"… So?"

"Shut up and listen! It used to belong to the wall of a steel grated insane asylum…"

"… Who cares? It's a detached thermostat."

"… Oh yeah well… watch as I… adjust the heat! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!" Igneous began to move the dial up and nothing changed as expected.

"… You're retarded!"

"Damn! It's not working!"

"SHUT UP! Fight seriously you idiotic bastard!" Knuckles shouted before he noticed the ground shaking. "Aw damn it! Now I see what he was doing!" Knuckles jumped out of the way as a huge boulder arose out of the ground he was standing on. It shot into the air. The echidna quickly punched his fist through it as it came back down and soon tiny little pebbles landed safely on the ground.

" I'm not falling for your crap anymore! We finish this here and now."

Igneous rubbed his temples a bit then nodded.

"Okay then fine! I'll punch you so hard you'll die and come back."

"Huh?"

"I have spoken!" Igneous shouted while going on the offensive once again.

_Ice Cap region of 3-way-villa- Silent pathway_

Shimon walked in the snow clearly injured and tired. His clothes were meant for the summer not the winter. He was freezing cold and he truly didn't know whether or not he'd live.

However if he didn't get that message of Hang Nail's to the fox he'd be killed anyway. Striving to live is a lot better then quitting and sentencing yourself to death.

He began chanting to himself to keep his wavering determination up.

"I've gotta keep moving… gotta keep moving… gotta keep…"

_Ice Cap Castle_

Metal Sonic waited… and he waited. Another minute passed and the robot finally made his decision.

Metal Sonic saw the time.

He recalled that it was Karst he was waiting for.

Without saying a word he stood up and headed out the door.

_Ice Cap Region- Ice Mist area_

"This… this is bad." Tails grunted as he was being held up by his neck by Karst. Charmy was lying across from them looking extremely scared and worried for Tails' life.

"Well would you look at this? It's pretty isn't it? The way you're so close to death. It's amazing how easily the power of a kitsune can be manipulated. After I'm done here I'll try not to be careless with your power. After all, Eggman may have invented devices that can harness its power but there is no way for him to know that it now all belongs to me!" Karst boasted at how well this fight was going for him.

"D-damn you… bastard!" Tails was still half a kitsune so he had still been unable to regain the amount of knowledge that made him such a special case in the first place.

"Now then I've had enough fun. Time to take the rest of your power and then rest up a bit." Karst's fiendish smile only made Tails growl in disgust. How could such a revolting person exist? The very thought of what the dude's childhood was like not only scared him but made him feel as though he'd magically acquired 20 different non-existent diseases at the same time.

Yeah, it was that bad.

Eventually Tails felt that now familiar feeling of his kitsune power draining. This was bad indeed. He barely stood a chance against Karst when he wasn't insanely powered up. Now Tails was returning to normal and Karst would be…kitsune powered!

"N-no s-stop!" Tails was returning to normal quickly and noticeably as his red eyes turned blue again and his fangs receded

"Sorry, can't do that!" Karst's body began to glow a dark purple as his power rose to an unimaginable level. Eventually Tails was nothing but an extremely worn out kid fox dangling in Karst's hand.

"Tails!" Charmy watched as his friend was held there seemingly helpless to escape Karst's grasp.

The ice themed commander flung Tails to the ground and watched as he lied there and didn't move.

"Espo! Espo! Wake up! Tails gonna die! Tails gonna die!" Charmy shook the still unconscious chameleon but to no avail. Karst must've done something other then just stab him in the back.

However, that didn't matter now. Tails was going to die.

Karst laughed as his power basically exploded across the terrain. Tails, feeling defeated and a complete loss of spirit, just lied there in the snow and didn't move. His malice was gone. His excessive cursing had disappeared too. He was back to the shy, lovable four-year-old with the mega-sized brain he used to be.

"Well now it seems it's time for the ultimate take-down! Come on fox! Let me show you the correct way to kill a hopeless child." Karst began to walk toward the fox who had all but given up on the situation.

"Tails move! Run! Run!" Charmy cried out but the fox wouldn't move. What was he doing?

_'It's no use…he's to powerful. Even if I tried to run I'd end up dead anyway. It's probably better if I die. This whole mess started because of me.'_ Tails thought feeling even worse as he spelled out the truth to himself.

"Tails! Pwease! Run!" Charmy shouted. The bee obviously didn't get why Tails didn't run away.

_'Why should I run… I'm… just a worthless…'_

_**'Stop saying you're worthless!'**_

_'Huh? Th-that sounded like Sonic…'_ Tails' eyes widened. He was recalling something from back on Westside Island.

_' Sonic… I remember him telling me that… I should never say that I'm worthless anymore… he said it made him feel sad…'_

Karst began to accumulate a kitsune powered ice projectile in his hand as he was determined to make sure that none of this fox's body remained.

_'…For some reason… for some reason when ever I talk bad about myself Sonic doesn't like it… he was the only person who wouldn't though. Everyone on that island except him… they all hated me and wanted to see me suffer…'_

Charmy began to cry even louder as Karst drew closer to the still unmoving fox.

_'…I… I get it now…I may die here but… that doesn't mean I should just let it happen_…'

**_'I'm amazed you fixed this ship all by yourself!'_**

**_'You're really an amazing kid! You run so fast and you're only four-years-old!'_**

_'…Run…fast…that's what I've got to do…! Even if it's hopeless… even if I'm sure I'm gonna die here and now… I can't give up!'_ Tails finally began to move. He stood up and turned away from Karst. _"I can't give up… If I do… then Sonic…Sonic would be sad… and disappointed. I can't let the only person who believed in me down! I won't!'_

"You still haven't given up! It's amazing how stupid you still are even without your kitsune power!"

_'I've got to run away! That's the only smart thing to do right now!"_ Tails wobbled up on his legs, which felt like Jell-O by the way, and began to run opposite of Karst's direction. Every step he took sent a jolt of pain up his body but he kept moving. He couldn't stop! He wouldn't allow himself to just let himself die like he almost did back at Westside Island.

"Hahahaha! You do realize that no matter how far you run the blast I send your way will be fast enough and big enough to blast you apart and them some! You stupid little fox!" Karst pulled his hand back and tossed the max powered projectile at Tails.

_'Gotta keep running! Can't look back! Can't let Sonic down!'_

"It's over! Now die you little thorn in my side!"

"Tails! No!" Charmy shouted in fear.

BOOM!! The blast collided with the fox and caused a massive explosion. It sent the bee and Espio rolling back. "Tails!"

"Hahahahaha! Well now! That was easier than I thought! I…huh?"

The snow that was shot straight up in the air during the explosion came back down and rained on an uncovered body.

"Something's wrong!" Karst shouted. That explosion should have obliterated the snow not send it flying. Eventually both Karst and Charmy saw something move behind the mist that the snow was emitting.

"T-Tails?" Charmy saw the fox's silhouette beyond the mist in the snow. After what seemed like an eternity of waiting he finally showed himself.

Tails was still alive.

"I-I'm alive? But how?" The fox stared at his hands as if some ancient text was written on them or something.

"Of coarse! I was afraid of that! Apparently this power has some sort of freak connection with this fox. If I use it as a projectile then he can absorb it! Damn it! I just gave him back some of his power! Aw well, I'll just have to transmit the power into an item so that won't happen again. My sword should do nicely."

"Tails! Run!" Charmy shouted again in his babyish voice. Tails was still amazed that he survived that to hear the bee correctly. That's when the fox realized something. Karst's newfound power… was still his!

"Time to die!" Karst said as he transmitted the power into his sword. If he cut him in half then it didn't matter if he got his power back or not. "Here I come!"

"Of coarse! Since this is my power I can still control it!" Tails said with his eyes gleaming.

Karst came closer with his sword raised high.

"And if I can do whatever I want with it… then…"

"Take this and die!" Karst shouted as he brought his sword down on Tails. During that coarse of time Karst managed to reach the fox without him realizing it. The sight of the sword coming down on him scared him so much he barely had time to think about what to do and eventually found himself shouting.

"Destroy the sword!" Tails shouted as loud as he could.

With that the sword dispersed in thin air.

Charmy, who had almost been choking on his own saliva when he saw the sword almost slice Tails in half, let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding and collapsed backward in the snow.

"Wh-what the hell was that!" Karst was freaking out! All the fox said was destroy the sword and 'poof' it was gone.

Tails was sweating bullets and his heart felt as though it were a building being demolished by a wrecking ball over and over again. Despite that he was amazed that it actually worked. And if that worked then what would happen if…

"You annoying little weasel…fox…thing! I'm gonna…"

"Punch Karst in the face!" Tails shouted.

"Do what now?" Karst asked before his fist rose and impacted himself in the face. "What the…"

"Again!" Tails shouted. Karst punched himself again. "Again! Again! Again! Again! And Again!" Tails shouted jumping up and down and then Karst began to strike himself hard over and over again.

"What…is…this?" Karst didn't understand why he was doing this.

"Why are you hitting yourself? Why are you hitting yourself? Why are you hitting yourself?" Tails began to chant. Eventually Charmy looked up and started to chant it too thinking that Karst looked funny. Kids were sure good at taunting grown-ups.

"D-damn it!" Karst shouted as he punched himself some more. "I-can't… I can't stop!"

The commander didn't know what to do until he got a marvelous idea.

"So far… up until now… I've been able… to control this power, which means… I can still control it! Since that fox is no longer powered up I no longer… require this kitsune power…" Karst said to himself then grabbed his fist before he could connect again.

"Uh-oh." Tails said stumbling backward.

"Kitsune power, disperse!" Karst shouted which caused the power to completely disappear. They were back where they started… with Karst holding an overwhelming advantage over Tails!

The fox fell on his backside and began to scoot backward. No what? He had nothing to fight this guy with. There was no way to win again!

Karst didn't smile this time. He was more then pissed at the fact that he had been humiliated so easily by such a young fox. No more mercy was to be shown.

"You know what kid… you've got some nerve. Do you have any idea how superior I am to you!?"

Tails said nothing and looked as if he had regretted what he did.

"My ice… it's harder then steel when I want it to be! All I have to do is punch you and you'd be dead! The only reason I let this drag on so long was because I figured it be fun to prolong your in evadable death."

Tails continued to stare at the commander as he continued.

"I thought you understood your position. You were hopelessly overpowered and you were smart enough to know that because of your weakness you were to die today. I was so sure you had realized that until you started chanting 'Why are you hitting yourself?' like this was some kind of game!"

Charmy had stopped chanting as well and was now back to fearing for Tails' live. He wondered if Karst would come after him next.

"Well now that I know you're not taking this seriously then there is no reason for me not to anymore. You see when I fight I like there to be two kinds of people, the one who takes it seriously and the one who doesn't. I used to be the one who was just kidding around until that display earlier and it seems as though you would rather switch places. Fine then!"

Tails stood up and started to back away.

"With this punch I'll send you flying to the after life!" Karst held up his fist while Tails turned to make a break for it. "That won't work!"

Within a second of Tails' retreat Karst managed to get in front of the fox. Time seemed to have slowed down for the terrified fox at that moment. His life seemed to have been reeling itself in front of his eyes for about a second when Tails spoke.

"…Sonic…" The fox saw the fist fly at him at a terrifyingly fast speed.

He did nothing as Karst's fist collided with Tails' cheek and sent him flying across the terrain and into the snow with a harsh crash.

Karst was satisfied when he saw the blood on his fist.

"Well then, that's it isn't it then?"

Everything went silent immediately after that before Charmy was compelled to cry out.

"TAILS! NO! MEANIE! YOU MADE TAILS DIE!" Charmy shouted and cried at the same time.

Karst dusted himself off then slowly turned his attention to the bee. He was the only one left apparently.

"Kinda weird the youngest of the group survived the longest but I guess it can't be helped." Karst began to walk toward the frightened bee who began to shake Espio's body hoping he'd suddenly spring into action and help the poor boy out. No such thing happened.

Eventually Karst hovered over Charmy with his serious face still on. The two-year-old cried and cried on top of Espio for about two second before he was lifted in the air.

Karst ignored Charmy's tears and drew back his fist. Charmy closed his eyes and began to shake.

"Finally… it's done." Karst launched his fist at Charmy with full force but stopped about halfway through. Charmy had heard a clanging sound at the time Karst's fist stopped but he didn't know what it was.

Karst just stood there for two more seconds before dropping the bee to the ground and turning around. A rock lay at his feet. The clanging sound was the sound of it being tossed at his head. The commander looked up and saw what he had thought it was that dared interrupted his moment of triumph.

There in front of him stood Tails. His eyes and face were covered in tears. His mouth and some parts of his head were bleeding. Two of his baby teeth were gone. His legs wobbled and he didn't stand upright at all but none-the-less… it was him. He was alive!

"I… just don't get it. Why the hell won't he give up? What's he trying to prove by allowing himself to be beaten up like that?" Karst stood there amazed at this fox's bravado. It was either that or that punch totally made him stupid.

Tails stood there huffing and puffing while Charmy lied there in the snow and watched as the fox pushed himself past his limit.

"Tails…alive." Charmy said tearing up.

"You...You'll never understand...the way i feel..."

Right before Tails was hit he remembered Sonic.

He remembered his voice and his comfurting smile.

"It's because of him... back at Westside Island..."

Tails took two steps forward.

"... It's because I've never been belived in before... I would always give up because of that... but now... I've met him... and he told me the truth... so... that's why... that's why..."

Tails clutched his fists together and took a huge deep breath. Then he shouted out to the sky as loud as his vocal cords would allow him to...

"I'LL NEVER GIVE UP! AS LONG AS I HAVE SOMEONE WHO BELIEVES IN ME**… I'LL NEVER GIVE UP! _NOT EVER!!_**

Karst just stood there really taken a back by that outburst. Charmy just lied there and cried tears of joy.

"Tails… is so cool!" He screamed happily.

"Hmph! Little insect! DIE ALREADY!" Karst extended his hand and started to shoot out ice sickles at the already injured fox.

Tails clearly wasn't prepared for that and did the first thing to come to mind. He ducked. The ice sickles landed behind and barely missed his tails. Tails looked at the ice sickles and began to think.

'_Come on! Think! The plan you came up with won't just work with just these ice sickles! There has got to be something here with a bigger blast!'_ The fox hadn't just been standing there throwing rocks at Karst. He had devised a plan a while ago that needed precise timing and accuracy. The only way for it to work was to make sure Karst was in a position where his focus wasn't on Tails. Now was his chance!

"Tails! Watch out!" Charmy shouted as Karst launched himself at the fox.

"How many times do I have to kill you boy!?" Karst shouted as he shot more ice sickles and ran forward. Tails was busy picking the ice sickles Karst threw at him earlier out of the ground to completely dodge them all.

Two of them sliced Tails in the arm, which caused him to wince and almost drop the ice sickles in his hands. Eventually, Karst was upon Tails.

"Now hold still! This time I will kill you!" Karst made a dive at Tails but the fox quickly tuck and rolled in between Karst's legs to get behind him. The tuck and roll, however, hurt a lot more than anyone will ever know.

Karst immediately turned around and tried to grab the fox but his feet were stuck in the snow.

"Huh? What's this?"

"Snow… and shards of your broken sword." Tails explained.

"What?"

"I dug those holes when you weren't looking and then stuck shards of the first broken sword at the sides of the hole. When your feet sunk in you got stuck!"

"What? But my ice is one of the most hardest substances on this planet! How'd…"

"You're right! It is pretty hard! But it isn't unbreakable. It took me a while but I figured it out. The only thing able to break your ice… is your ice itself!"

"…"

"Now watch this!" Tails said taking two of the ice sickles in his hand and jabbing them hard into Karst's feet. They were able to break through his ice and reach his human skin underneath. Tails was satisfied when he saw the commander bleed on both feet.

"Err! Why you!" Karst said struggling to break free.

"Serves you right you big meanie!" Tails said sticking out his tongue at Karst and running over to where Espio's body lay. During that explanation he had figured out what might cause a big enough blast to finally get Karst out of his hair.

Tails searched Espio and found a small black pack on him. He opened it up and found what he was looking for.

"Heh, you think you're so smart! Don't you!" Karst began to struggle and eventually one of his feet began to loosen.

Tails panicked as he took out the flat pieces of paper in Espio's pack and rapped them around the ice sickles.

"You're too late fox boy! I'm almost out!" Karst said as he began to loosen even more. Eventually his first foot was free and Tails wasn't even halfway through with what he was doing yet.

"Just one more." Karst began to force his other foot out. This was it. Tails didn't have nearly enough for his plan to work. Was his plan going to fail?

He thought so until he heard Karst shout something from behind that made Tails smile.

"Let go of my leg you foolish bee!"

Tails began to tear up and turned his head slightly to see Charmy holding on to the ice sickle in Karst's foot. He was doing whatever it took to keep it down. Tails turned back to his work while Charmy continued to struggle.

"I said let go!" Karst pulled back his fist and brought it down on Charmy's helmet protected head. The helmet didn't break but the force of the blow obviously transmitted to his head. Karst didn't stop there. He kept punching Charmy on the head over and over again.

Tails was almost done. He had a few more to go.

Charmy's hands felt frozen quickly as he held onto the ice sickle but he couldn't let go. Charmy quickly switched his hands for his mouth and began holding it down with his teeth while Karst continued to punch.

Eventually blood began to drip out of the bee's helmet and tears escaped his eyes but his determination wouldn't waver.

"I'm done!" Tails shouted. Charmy immediately let go of the ice and rolled away. Tails quickly ran toward Karst and jabbed the ice sickles with the paper rapped around them into Karst's chest.

"Argh! What are you doing you little brat?" Karst shouted extremely angry at this situation. They had gone too far.

Tails quickly grabbed the half-conscious bee and ran away from Karst.

The ice themed commander didn't know what he had done but it was annoying. Karst saw the paper on the ice sickles and his curiosity beckoned him to see what they were. As soon as he touched the paper he heard a fizzing sound. He was confused so he looked at them more closely. That's when he almost choked.

"These are… paper bombs… DAMN NINJA!!" Karst shouted attempting to tear them off but it didn't work. They were stuck! "Damn it! Get Off!" He yelled not knowing them his constant moving was setting them all off.

Eventually he realized his current state. His body was injured from the battle before and he was covered in active paper bombs.

"...No way… did I… the great Karst Ice… " Karst began to sweat underneath his metal

"... Lose?"

The answer was delivered through a tremendous explosion that took place almost immediately after the question was asked.

Tails and Charmy had dragged Espio far enough away from the explosion for him and the other two not to be hit by it. When both the bee and the fox saw the smoke coming from the direction they had just escaped from they both looked at each other for a second then realized something.

"WE WON!!" Tails shouted while pulling the bee into a hug.

"Bye, bye meanie ice guy!" Charmy said sticking his tongue out at the smoke. They sat there and laughed a bit before they both just lied back into the snow.

'_I did it Sonic… I'm not worthless.'_

_I think this is one of my best chapters yet! I hope all of you enjoyed it! Please read and review. Next update coming up!_


	30. Chapter 30

_Here I am again saying sorry for what seems like a long wait. I am really getting into this climax. Darkness' survival game is almost here! Err…wait… that was suppose to be a surprise… aw well you'll see it soon._

**A declaration of honor! Knuckles vs. Igneous!**

Tails pants while lying back in the snow as if as his troubles had literally stabbed him repeatedly in his lungs.

Yeah, he was that tired.

However, that's not to say he wasn't satisfied.

The fact of this whole matter was that he actually had beaten that murderer. It was an amazing feeling realizing that you were actually useful in a seemingly helpless situation. The fact that his plan had actually worked made him feel overjoyed.

"I only wish Sonic could've seen me do it… oh well." Tails struggled to sit up strait but it hurt too much. He would've quit if it weren't for the fact that if he stayed in the ice region he'd die.

Mustering up as much strength as he could he sat up, rubbed his hands together in a desperate attempt to get rid of the ice particles slowly forming on his hands, then turned to Charmy.

The little two-year-old was actually more impressive then he was. Being able to take Karst's hits like that must've been more then tough. The little bee lied on top of Espio's body not even caring that the blood seeping out of his helmet was staining Espio's body.

Charmy was tired and there wasn't a doubt about it.

Tails had to admit he was tired as well and judging by Charmy's state they would need some miracle to happen for them to even consider moving on.

Tails looked around and saw the wind pick up. He sighed in frustration as his fur started to get cold.

"I guess me beating Karst was the only miracle for a while… oh well."

_Desert Region_

The shockwave of Igneous' fist connecting to Knuckles' cheek sent him spiraling to the ground. He didn't have time to recover completely as Igneous slammed his unbelievably hard body on top of Knuckles and jumped back in the air.

The echidna spit out some of the blood that resulted from the hit then quickly dodged to the side as Igneous came back down again landing in the same spot.

"Damnit! He's an idiot but his body mass is unbelievable." Knuckles said completely surprised that he was still alive after a hit like that.

"Hey echidna! Stop talking to yourself and die like a good weakling!" Igneous said launching another boulder at Knuckles. The echidna quickly turned to run but was hit directly by the bullet shaped rock in the back.

He landed ungracefully into the sand and the rock kept flying ahead of him until it slammed into the ground as well.

"I'm getting nowhere with this idiot. Why am I even here anyway? It's not like Sonic's my friend or anything so why am I helping?" Knuckles asked himself while struggling to get up and fix his back.

It was probably because of that fox. Maybe if he weren't so young and innocent then he wouldn't feel obligated to help. It was either that or the fact that this was the same guy who had tried to steal his emerald before all this.

If he let up now then his emerald would be in danger and as a guardian he couldn't let that happen.

"**Igneous Rock Hulgan!!"** Igneous shouted as he slammed his fist in the ground. Not but two seconds later had a fleet of rocks come out of the ground and blast straight at Knuckles.

The echidna quickly swiped at them all with great force and broke them all easily. When he was done however he noticed Igneous was no longer there.

"Awe great. Another disappearing act." Knuckles was fed up with this and he almost considered leaving while Igneous was hiding until a hand came out the ground and grabbed his leg.

"HA! Gotcha!" Igneous burst through the ground and tossed Knuckles high into the sky.

"Damn! It hurts even when he throws me! Such incredible strength!" Knuckles looked down while he was flying up to see no one there.

"Looking for me!" Igneous said hovering above Knuckles somehow. This completely startled the echidna, as he wasn't expecting him to get above him so quickly.

Igneous curled his hands together into one huge fist and pounded Knuckles hard in the stomach. The very second the fist connected Knuckles seemed to have been half-dead. He immediately and literally threw up an impressive amount of blood then rocketed into the ground.

Knuckles was in a truck-sized crater not moving. That hit was so damn hard and amazing!

Igneous didn't seem to care for Knuckles' current state. The only state he was concerned with was the dead and not coming back alive one.

"Okay then! It time for me to dive!" Igneous launched himself back down to Knuckles' location, which made the echidna wince.

_'Crap! If I get hit like that again I'm dead!'_ He said trying his best to move. As Igneous drew closer he managed to stand up but the robot was too close for him to escape.

Knowing that dodging was out of the question Knuckles held up his hands and caught the hulking mass of metal as he finished his descend. When Knuckles caught him however, the size of the crater immediately increased to about that of six trucks.

Knuckles himself was gritting his teeth as they bled through and summoned up all the muscular strength he could muster.

"Damn you! This won't kill me you idiot!" Knuckles clenched his fists and they immediately dug into Igneous' metal.

With a quick motion he twirled the robot around and tossed him out of the crater into an unknown location. With that the echidna basically collapsed.

"At least give me a moment to recover dumbass!" Knuckles said laying back and trying his best to regain composure.

Those hits had hurt but they were nothing compared the echidna himself.

"All for a fox… who'd a thought…"

After a couple of minutes Knuckles began to climb out of the crater the idiot had made in a forceful attempt to finish this charade.

When Knuckles reached the top he quickly lifted himself onto the ground and looked around the terrain with an intense look on his face.

"Oh I see… it's the evil dude pose of bad-ass-ness is it?" Knuckles said as he laid his eyes on Igneous standing just a few feet from him. His hands were on his hips and Knuckles couldn't see it on his face but he just KNEW this guy was smirking.

"You'd better watch who you're calling badass." Was Igneous' brain dead reply.

"… You're a freaking moron, you know that?"

"Yeah whatever! Shudup!" The bulky commander shouted feeling as he had won the micro-sized argument. He spread his arms out, bent his inflated legs, and did a miraculous jump over Knuckles' head.

Despite how miraculous it was Knuckles wasn't impressed. But then again, not much impressed him anyway.

In a somewhat forced attempt to make his decent graceful Igneous began to flip in the air over and over again until he took the shape of a ball. Doing this unconsciously gave his decent more speed but it was more than obvious that the idiot commander didn't realize it.

"Yeah right! You're not laying those filthy sausages on me again!" The echidna was bloody, bruised, and pissed off. It was a dangerous combination to anyone who had the misfortune of fighting a guy who had been forced to stare at a green rock for the rest of his life.

Knuckles pulled back his fist and waited for Igneous to draw closer. Eventually he was close enough for Knuckles to dive to the left and perform a successful fake out.

As predicted, Igneous connected with the ground. This time Knuckles was smart enough to jump when he did. Shockwaves weren't fun to experience, especially in this heat!

Knuckles landed gracefully but Igneous had to roll a few to get back on his feet. The echidna just grunted in anger while the robot dusted himself off. That attack wasn't well planned and didn't seem at all necessary some how and they both knew it. That only meant one thing…

"You're playing with me now. Is that it?" Knuckles spoke up nonchalantly cocking his head backward and sideways at the same time.

Igneous put his left hand on his hip and waved his right finger at Knuckles in a ridiculous and overconfident looking gesture.

"That's a bad echidna! Making up excuses for your weakness."

Knuckles' response to that statement was one that clearly showed he ignored it completely.

"I guess I'm right then. I'm all battered and bruised up and I don't know whether or not I have any broken bones but now's not the time to check." Knuckles closed his eyes for about 5 seconds then reopened them and stared coldly at Igneous.

"So now you're taking this to your advantage and doing useless attacks to try and ware me down enough so that you can finish me off without any trouble. Is that right?" Knuckles said silently but loud enough for Igneous to hear. His fists were clenched and he looked half tired and half bored.

Tired and Bored. They were two completely different things when dealing with Knuckles.

Igneous chuckled at the hypothesis and soon laughed out loud like a mad man.

"Yup! You got it! After all, if you're gonna die then there's no need to suffer right? HAHAHA!!" Igneous had but his fists on his hips as he laughed at the sky.

Knuckles closed his eyes again and let out a small breath while Igneous continued to laugh. The echidna opened his mouth again and said a word that caught Igneous' full attention.

"Coward."

"What!" Igneous stopped his 'madman' pose and replaced it with a 'taken back' one.

"I had thought that this was suppose to be an honorable fight that was to determine the outcome of the destiny of needy child. That's why I wanted Amy to stay out of this. However, it's become more than obvious that throughout this fight you've been using cheap and annoying gimmicks to reframe from fighting for real."

Igneous just stared at him as Knuckles continued.

"Hmph! What's your problem! Are you that frightened of me? Are you afraid that your power alone isn't good enough? If that's true then I'm leaving… I don't need an opponent like that."

Igneous couldn't believe what he was hearing. This fool was asking him to kill him!

"Tiring someone out is a good plan of action in battle but not in situations where that someone is holding back just so he can do it. That jump attack just now was stupid and an easily evadable attack. I know you can do better but you deliberately didn't!"

Knuckles stomped his foot in the sand.

"People who don't honor their opponents' request for a 1 on 1 duel by not giving them their all disgust me! If you're just gonna play games and jump around then I'm moving out! Come at me with everything you have! I'm more than a worthy opponent to the likes of you!"

"Y-You." Igneous stammered.

"Attack me the hardest you possibly can in a fight like this! That's what I want! If you can't honor that than you're a coward!"

It was silent for about to seconds before Igneous pumped his fists in the air trying to hold back 'honorable warrior tears'.

"I'm no damn coward! If you want to die painfully and mercilessly than fine! I'm coming at you with everything I've got!" Igneous started to punch the air with his newfound respect for the animal he was trying to kill.

"Good… despite my state or my size…I'm not weak…and I demand to be treated like it damnit!"

"Gotcha! No more gimmicks!" Igneous shouted and struck a pose that would probably have people laughing at him if anyone was around.

About 2 more seconds later Igneous dug his hands into the ground and began to lift. Knuckles felt as if the entire planet was rising out of the ground. That may have not been the case but HE was rising off the ground.

The Earth rumbled and rattled and shook until it began clear what Igneous was lifting up. Under Knuckles' feet was a huge boulder as big as a house!

"How's this for my best eh?" After a few more seconds Igneous succeeded in lifting the entire boulder out of the ground. All of it uncovered was a bit bigger than a regular two-story house. However it was huge for rock standards in the desert plains.

Well at least this desert.

Igneous made a large grunt and lifted the boulder above his head with Knuckles still standing on it. He fixed his arms so they were in an acceptable position and began to twirl the boulder around. Knuckles hadn't seen this coming and soon found himself launched towards the sky. However, Igneous still held the boulder.

"Now let's see you handle this!" Igneous launched the boulder straight towards Knuckles about 10 seconds after he had sent him flying.

Despite it's size and the speed it was coming at him with. The echidna couldn't help but smile.

On his travels with Amy he had done simply to get away from the island life once in a while he had discovered so many things about the situation at hand. He read books about a kingdom in coordinates 000 that had been condemned for over 4000 years.

Some king named Prower had been tricked into becoming some sort of monster somehow by his assistant. Some Diox clan was destroyed some thousand years after that happened and ever since Kitsunes have shown up for brief periods of time to cause a little destruction and then be put to rest.

It was a cycle but it was read that today that cycle would end at where it began. The many different kitsunes showing up throughout time had appeared at different locations on the planet, not coordinates 000.

After the thing was created at coordinates 000 kitsunes showed up at specific times at different coordinates such as 025L, 050, and 025R. However, it was read that when the cycle ended at coordinates 000 again the ending of all life would come.

It would all end at where it began.

Knuckles thought about this as the boulder drew closer to him and he smirked.

"Bullcrap…" Knuckles extended his hands and braced himself for the boulder's impact. It hit his hands with amazing accuracy.

"I'm not about to let some kitsune decide when my life will end…"

The echidna dug his hands into the rock as they kept going up.

"… I don't care what some dumbass prophecy says…"

Knuckles slammed his feet on the rock and began to push it back. His strength was being forced to push back both Igneous' and the boulder's strength!

"…I will live… I'm stronger than some dumbass robot!"

The boulder was slowing down and Igneous began to notice it as well.

"…I'm stronger then some crumbly old rock…"

Knuckles pushed even more and the rock, somehow, defying all logic in the echidna's mind, stopped flying!

"What!" Igneous was sure he had thrown it hard enough for it to at least reach the stratosphere (Realistically he had only thrown it hard enough to reach past the clouds). It didn't make any sense that it would stop before it got past the clouds however.

"…I'm not gonna die…I'll win! You hear me!" Knuckles began to pull back his fist.

"What the hell is he doing?" Igneous looked really freaked out by this.

"Now eat this and choke on it too!" Knuckles slammed his fist into the rock at an angle he doesn't usually do and instead of it breaking the boulder was launched right back at Igneous!

"Oh Crap!" The robot clearly didn't see this turn of events coming and hesitated to move. When he released he should move it was already to close. Igneous lifted up his hands in a last ditch effort to save himself.

The rock slammed against his hands and himself and almost instantly created a huge crater in the ground! Dust immediately fillled the area.

"HA! You're amazing Knuckles!" The echidna laughed as he slowly made his descent.

As he drifted back down to the battlefield he could make out three things. There was a miraculous amount of smoke everywhere, a pink hedgehog running up to the smoke that had stirred from her sleep not a while ago, and sand… lots and lots of sand.

"Oi, there's so much sand." Knuckles twitched as he landed in the safely in that sand.

About a minute later Amy had caught up to him.

"Hey, Amy! When'd you get-"

WHAM and Knuckles was face down in the sand. Amy's hammer fizzled, as did the lump on Knuckles' head.

"When did I wake up you ask? Oh about a few minutes ago! Thanks for caring! I can't believe you just left me there alone in that sand! I could've been buried and lost to this vast and dirty desert forever!"

"…That wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing you know." Knuckles mumbled.

Amy had heard it but simply gave him a 'hmph' and turned away.

"Besides what was I suppose to do just let the bad guy get away." Knuckles knew that didn't get through to her when he saw her cross he arms and pout.

Knuckles sighed and almost considered letting his guard down when he felt that annoying presence again. The echidna immediately steadied himself then heard the sounds of rocks moving.

"Duck!" Knuckles shouted.

"A duck? In the desert?" Asked Amy.

"No you idiot! Get down!" Knuckles shouted as a barrage of rocks came out of the rubble and smoke. Knuckles dived for Amy, grabbed her, and dodged the incoming rocks. They were moving faster than bullets.

Knuckles kept dodging for the both of them until the barrage stopped. When it did so did Knuckles.

He stared at the smoke for what seemed like a couple of minutes before a heavily damaged robot jumped out and made a punch at Knuckles. It happened so suddenly that it almost scared the echidna.

Knuckles ducked backward as the fist came out and Amy let out a surprised scream. Knuckles quickly dropped Amy and began to jab at Igneous' already damaged face. The robot shell surrounding a human body inside had plenty of cracks in it and only grew more as Knuckles' punches became more intense.

He kept punching Igneous' face until the robot fell back into the sand with Knuckles on top of him. As the robot's anger rose so did his determination. He grabbed Knuckles and tossed him to the side harshly.

The robot then got up on one knee then put his hand into the sand.

"I've had it with you…" He said as he bled through his shell. " I'm the great Igneous Rock! I shall not lose to a stubborn animal!"

"You're the stubborn one! Why don't you just stay down already! And how dare you attack a lady!" Amy fumed remembering full well who it was who put her into that oh so unpleasant state of unconsciousness.

"Be quiet. You're just as, IF NOT MORE, annoying than that echidna! I don't care which one of you dies first…"

That's when Igneous pulled out a huge staff that was eclipsed in rock. He held it in front of him with both hands and shouted.

"…AS LONG AS AT LEAST ONE OF YOU DIES MY MISSION WILL BE CONSIDERED AS SUCCESS!!" Igneous said launching himself at Amy.

"Amy!" Knuckles gets up and pushes the girl out of the staffs way at the last second. It connects with the ground and makes a small but frightening crater.

"This is my Metamorphic Rock Staff! My most powerful weapon!"

"… Hey… but since it's a collection of other rocks wouldn't that be Sedimentary…"

"I HAVE SPOKEN! IT'S METAMORPHIC BECAUSE IT SOUNDS COOLER!!" Igneous twirled the weapon above his head and tossed it straight at Knuckles like a boomerang.

"Heh! You thing that'll work." Knuckles harshly pushed Amy to the side as the staff closed in on him. With great timing he jumped over the rotating staff and landed in the same spot. "Easy!"

"You think so?"

"Huh?" Not a second after Knuckles had asked the question had the huge rotating staff connected him in the back and sent him hurling towards Igneous. The robot smirks as he pulls back his fist and jabs Knuckles in the stomach.

Knuckles basically threw up blood as both the still rotating boomerang staff and Igneous' fist connected their blows at the same time. Eventually Igneous grabbed the staff from behind Knuckles and quickly slammed it into the echidna and sent him into the ground before gravity did his work before him.

"Oh no! Knuckles!" Amy shouted when she saw her friend and her self proclaimed protector connect with the ground.

"HA! SMOKED YOU BITCH!!" Igneous shouted and began to laugh. "This boomerang staff is such a great attack that it can take out a dozen military tanks with one swing!"

"Oh yeah!" Shouted Amy raising her hammer high. "Well my hammer hits harder than that in one swing I'll tell you that!" She said as she launched at Igneous.

"What the hell is your problem?" Igneous asked while backing up a bit.

"Take this!" Amy slammed her hammer toward Igneous but he quickly dodged and continued to do so as her attacks continued to rain down on the robot.

This continued for about five minutes.

Eventually they were both tuckered out from the constant moving around.

"Well that outta learn ya!" Amy shouted.

"Yeah right! You didn't even hit me!"

"Yes I did!"

"No you didn't!"

"Yes I did"

"No you didn't!"

"Yes I did!"

"SHUT UP BITCH! I SAID YOU DIDN'T!" Igneous raised his staff and prepared to toss it.

"Get out of the way Amy!" Came a struggling voice from behind.

Amy turned quickly to see Knuckles barely standing and a lot redder than usual. Such an amazing spirit in such a small animal. It was unheard of.

"Knuckles?"

"I'm about to end this fight! GET OUT OF THE WAY!"

Amy didn't argue as she ran away from both Igneous and Knuckles and not looking back until she stopped to turn and look.

"HA! I think you mean I'M about to end this fight!" Igneous said as he began to twirl his staff around again.

Knuckles spit out some blood on to the sand as silently said…

"I meant what I said. I'M ending this fight right here, right now! It's over."

"Yeah you keep telling yourself that!" Igneous' spinning grew faster and Knuckles remained calm.

"Now be a good boy and stay there as I TOTALLY SMOKE YOU! BITCH!" Igneous shouted as he launched his boomerang of sedimentary rock at Knuckles.

Knuckles stood there as calm as ever until the staff was about an inch in front of his face. That's when, with amazing speed, he grabbed the staff with both hands and began to twirl across the plain with it.

It was hard to get control of it, as expressed through his large grunts of pain.

He then slammed his feet into the sand and began to skid across it. The staff was still twirling but now it was in Knuckles' hands.

Igneous was too stunned to say anything. This incredibly worn out animal just caught his attack… AGAIN!

Knuckles twirled around the staff noticeably faster than Igneous had done before.

"The minute you pulled this out you sealed your own fate! Now take this and don't ever bother me again!" With that Knuckles launched the boomerang rock staff at Igneous with twice as much speed as Igneous had done it.

BLAM!

The thing hit him square in the stomach and immediately broke through his robotic shell. It began hitting against Igneous' human body so hard it sent him rocketing across the sand for what looked like miles until a huge crash signaled that Igneous and the staff had crashed into the ground.

There was silence and smoke. Lots of smoke.

After the smoke cleared Igneous lied there not moving. His robot shell was shattered and he had a huge staff made out of incredibly hard rocks jammed into his fragile human body.

Knuckles didn't need to examine him when he reached the area Igneous had landed to tell that he wasn't getting up again… EVER again.

He however did look down into the mess that was Igneous and spot a small green light emitting from him. Knuckles simply reached in the mess and pulled out a green chaos emerald. Including the one Amy stole from Karst back at Christmas Island. They now had two.

The echidna sighed and turned away from the body as he made his way across the desert sands toward what he thought was the ice region and hopefully where Tails was.

He was amazed that after all that he was still standing, much less walking. He didn't say anything when he saw Amy run up to him with a perky smile on her face. It was almost too perky… it almost scared him.

"What?" Knuckles asked breaking the unwanted silence.

"Oh nothing… we sure make a great team. That was tough work! Phew!" Amy said wiping imaginary sweat from he forehead.

"Pff! Yeah right! I did all the work! You slept half the time and didn't land a signal hit on him throughout the entire fight! 'Great team' my ass! I'd be much better off with that annoying hedgehog than a lazy girl like-"

Knuckles was silenced when something he wouldn't have predicted would happen ever in his life happened.

Amy quickly pecked him on the cheek and ran towards the direction Knuckles was walking. Knuckles stood there with an unbelievable blush on his face.

"Don't take that the wrong way Knuckles! That's nothing compared to what I would've done to Sonic!" She giggled and ran off into the desert.

Knuckles quickly snapped out of his trance and began to yell uncontrollably from embarrassment.

"Wh-who asked you to do that to me! Hey! Come back here! I'm talking to you! DAMN YOU!!

_Meanwhile flying over the desert region unnoticed_

The Government's assassination team was headed for the ice region in a rather large and noticeable Government ship.

Hato sat there quietly pondering why Smokestack thought his appearance in 3-way villa was helping any.

Rasshu sat quietly as well contemplating whether or not this fox was as big of a freak as the report stated. If he was he'd have fun killing him. Rasshu smiled silently to himself.

Buru was counting the amount of change in his pocket. He didn't really care what it was they did as long as it was done quickly.

Shoui kept fixing her hair even though it looked fine.

Mardo was… for some reason… licking a half empty yogurt cup and stabbing it with a fork.

Buru leaned over to Mardo and suggested he use a spoon to get the rest out.

"Oh yeah, that's right! AAAAAA….AAAAACHOOOOO!!" Mardo sneezed into a tissue held up by Buru at the last second.

Hato smiled to himself. This was guaranteed to be fun!

_Sorry if this was a long rate and if there wasn't enough Tails. I felt Knuckles deserved a little spotlight for once. I'll try to update sooner. REVIEW PLEASE!_


	31. Chapter 31

_I'm back and I'm ready to continue with the story. It's time to reveal everyone's current position in the story. Let us move! Read and review please!_

**Chapter 30: What makes a brother…**

**_So far Tails' road to his destiny has been a harsh one. After becoming a fugitive for his disturbing attack at the Station Square mall he now finds himself traveling with 2-year-old Charmy Bee and 12-year-old Espio the Chameleon in the ice region of 3-way villa after having defeated Karst Ice._**

_**In the dessert region Knuckles and Amy having just defeated Igneous Rock decide to head toward Coordinates 000 in hopes that Tails would soon be there. **_

_**Flying overhead the desert region is Commander Smokestack, Rouge, and Big the Cat on there own mission to Coordinates 000. **_

_**Flying a little ways behind them are Government assassins sent by a special Admiral to stop Smoke's mission. **_

_**As of now the only one actually in Coordinates 000 are Bocoe, Decoe, and Eggman's newest commander: Hang Nail. Hang Nail waits there as his kid messenger Shimon makes his trek across the ice region to deliver Hang Nail's message to Tails.**_

_**Vector's whereabouts are unknown.**_

_**As for Sonic… **_

_Green Hill Village: Green Hill zone of 3-way-villa_

Sonic stood there panting and holding on too his chest as if for dear life after taking another one of Strobe's maxims head on.

His mouth was more than overly bleeding and his legs felt like gelatin. Strobe was in a similar condition. After Sonic had found a way to pierce through Strobe's electricity by spinning he had suffered a great amount of damage.

Sonic certainly was determined to save his little brother. It was a feeling of determination that Strobe would give anything to feel again for at least one more time. How he missed his own brother.

"My brother… the one that I killed… I don't deserve to feel his embrace again." Strobe said silently to himself.

Princess Patella was watching the fight and finding it hard to compose herself. She had known Strobe since they were kids and didn't see why he had to act this way. She of coarse had no idea that he was suffering like this for so long.

Sonic continued to stand and began to ponder what Tails was up to without him. He must be worried. Some big brother he was.

He looked up and saw Strobe coming at him again. He was moving noticeably slower this time. He pulled back his arm and launched it forward, electricity brimming with massive power in his palm.

Sonic grunted and bent his legs. He not so easily jumped off the ground and spun into a ball as Strobe's attack missed. Sonic then shot himself at the commander who jumped backward to evade it.

They were both tired and it showed. Their reflexes had slowed considerably. Sonic being as fast as he was and Strobe having similar speed due to his lightning powers made it seem odd to any spectators who had known of their powers who happened to be watching.

After a while Sonic began to clutch his chest harder. The attacks were starting to get to him again but he couldn't waver. Not until this whole ordeal was dealt with! Tails didn't deserve this damn it!

Sonic began to wonder about Strobe's own brother. He had said he was 5 when he was 'killed'. He said he was the one who did it too. That must've been why he followed Eggman's ambition instead of his own… because he thought his own couldn't be trusted!

Sonic decided to speak up.

"Strobe!" Sonic shouted directly at him.

The lightning themed commander looked at him intently, paying full well attention to whatever the hedgehog had to say.

"Are you acting this way because of the bomb Eggman put in your brain… or… did you just tell us that unwanted piece of information… to hide your true reason?"

Patella looked at Strobe quizingly. She had a feeling she knew what his answer to that question was going to be.

Strobe stood there, left totally speechless for a few seconds until he spoke up again.

"I can't… I can't allow myself to die yet! I had a reason to kill myself long ago but fate gave me a new reason to live… " Strobe turned to look at the princess who now felt ashamed of herself. Was she the reason he couldn't be at peace with himself?

"You mean the princess?" Sonic spoke out what the princess was thinking.

"… Yes."

Sonic still wanted to know more so he asked again.

"Before you said you originally thought it was an accident but then realized it was your fault… what made you change your mind… was it Eggman up there who told you!"

Eggman, who had remained silent in his mobile while all this talking went on perked up at the mention of his name.

"No… it was… a voice… or maybe it was my imagination… but it spoke with such reassuring words that I couldn't help but submit."

"But… you…"

"As I said before after his death I could no longer follow my own ambition. So I came to Eggman. I didn't wish to be evil but after my brother's death I realized that I was… and I couldn't change that!"

Sonic began to feel weird fighting this guy. It was like fighting himself only he was fighting the version of himself that could've come to life if he had let Tails jump off that cliff and die back on Westside Island. The pain he'd have to go through would've been unbearable.

He couldn't live with himself anymore if he'd let that happen. He'd act just like Strobe. Wishing he were dead but forcing himself to stay alive based on the premise that he had a duty to protect the world from Eggman's control.

What an awful way to live… knowing that your brother's dead… and that you could've done something to stop it…

_Meanwhile in the ice region_

As luck would have it the little fox and bee found a cave during their trek to coordinates 000. They managed to make it inside while dragging Espio's body along as well.

Tails and Charmy didn't hesitate to cuddle beside each other as a way to dismiss the cold feeling they both had.

"Espo okay?" Charmy said all of a sudden

"Espo? Oh, Espio! I… I don't know." Tails began to shiver harder. Espio had been unconscious for a while now but he was still alive. They both made certain of that. It didn't take long for Charmy to ask something again.

"V-Vector okay?" Charmy's voice cracked as if he were ready to cry. Again Tails answered with a shaky I don't know.

"… T-Tails okay?"

This one Tails knew. He wasn't okay. He was in the middle of nowhere and he felt completely frozen. Espio was unconscious, they didn't know where Vector was, and Tails was worried about Sonic.

They'd been separated for so long it scared him. Tails tried not to cry but it was so hard. He was only 4-years-old after all. Why shouldn't he cry? He had a right to! He missed his big brother!

"I… I miss Sonic." Tails pouted. Charmy pouted as well.

"I miss Vector." He said as he put his head into his hands. Suddenly they both heard a very silent yet reassuring voice reach out to them.

"Don't worry you two… I'm sure he's fine." Said the voice that came from the ground. It was one Charmy knew all too well.

"ESPO! ESPO AWAKE!" Charmy shouted as the chameleon struggled to sit up.

"I know I'm asking a lot out of you two… but I'm going to need you to stay strong for me okay?" Espio had sat up and felt a strong pain in his back. Having been stabbed there he felt as though it made sense for him to have been out for so long.

Charmy however forgot that and immediately went to give the ninja a bear hug. Espio flinched but didn't want to make the kid sad by telling him to move. So he repositioned Charmy's hands so they hugged the upper part of his back instead of the middle part.

"Espo's back! Espo's back!"

"Yeah… sorry if I worried you Charmy. You too Tails." Espio said feeling happy to be in the presence of these two squirts.

Tails felt good for Charmy. At least he was happy. Tails however felt extremely low like he had always felt back on Westside Island. If stupid Bear Mayor didn't pass that law… no he couldn't dwell on the past now.

"Sonic… big brother… please… you said you work fast… so how come you're taking so long…"

_Back in Green Hill Village_

Sonic stood there with a sad expression on his face. He wanted to know what happened. He couldn't explain why but he just had to know.

"I sense you wish to know the story." Strobe spoke up all of a sudden. Sonic was about to ask how he knew but Strobe answered it for him.

"Our chaos emeralds. I have a yellow one inside me and you have the red one in your hand. I used their connection to feel what you were thinking. After all they do change people's thoughts into power."

"… I guess so." Sonic merely said.

"Then allow me to explain. I was merely 12-years-old when my brother died. When he was born it was far from the happiest day of my life. I felt jealous of him because he stole my mom's attention and as he grew I treated him even worse. It wasn't until he was 3 that I stopped being mean to him for he had done something that I never would've guessed he'd do."

Sonic waited patiently.

"He called me… the greatest big brother he could ever have. I knew full well that it wasn't true and it made me feel ashamed to even be a brother. It was then that I decided I was going to live up to that title.

_Flashback_

10-year-old Strobe and his little brother Streak were happily playing in their parents garden. Strobe wasn't metalic at all and had nice violet hair that complemented his sparkling blue eyes. Since their parents didn't get along with their kids that much Strobe had decided to play with Streak. Streak was 3-years-old, had light brown slightly spiky hair and blue eyes. He was actually quite intelligent for his age. He knew how too count and he could spell really well. Right now Strobe was showing him pictures of animals.

"Duckie!" He said as Strobe held up a picture of a duck.

"Good. Next one." Strobe held up a picture of a train. Streak's face began to twist and turn as he scratched his head cutely. Strobe smiled at this cuteness.

"Uhhhhhhhh… train?"

"Yeah! You got it!"

"Yay! I did it!"

"That's enough for today. We've got to get inside. It's getting dark."

"Really. Dark is bad." Streak said unconsciously clinging to Strobe.

"Yeah, I know but don't worry your big brother will protect you from the dark. "

"Okay!"

After that they both got up and went inside. Strobe had recently started acting nice toward his brother after he had falsely accused him of being the best big brother.

"I'm gonna do everything to prove it little bro. I promise."

_End Flashback_

"I guess you must've really loved him huh?" Sonic said feeling even worse.

"More than you know. It wasn't until a year later that my brother's kindness toward others was shown."

_Flashback_

"Ah! Big brother! Save me!" 4-year-old Streak ran through the forest as he was being chased by a stray dog.

Strobe wasn't far from his brother. They were at the park when Streak had suddenly disappeared while Strobe built a sand castle in the sand box. Right now he was calling for his brother in the forest.

"Streaky! Streaky! Where are you?" Strobe called out his little brother's nickname.

"Big brother! Is that you?!" Came his voice.

"Streaky?"

"Save me! Please!"

"I'm coming! Don't worry!" Strobe followed his brother's voice and ran as fast as he could to where he thought his voice was coming from.

He eventually found cornered against a rock by a dog.

"N-nice doggie! G-good boy!" Streak said pinning himself even harder against the rock.

Obviously the dog didn't care for his praise as it immediately launched itself at Streak.

"Streaky!" Strobe immediately ran over and pushed Streak out of the way. The dog collided with the rock as a result. It fell to the ground and stayed there while Strobe comforted his crying brother.

"Streaky. Are you okay?"

"Uh-huh. The doggie was scary."

"I know but I'm here now. I won't let it hurt you. Why was it chasing you anyway?"

"I… I tried feeding it an oatmeal cookie." Streak admitted.

"What? Why?"

"Because I heard that doggie's can't eat chocolate chip so I tried oatmeal and…"

"No I mean why did you try to feed it anything in the first place?" Strobe started to raise his voice.

"I-I don't know. I thought he looked hungry so I-"

"Don't you realize how stupid that was?! That was a stray dog! He could've had rabies and bitten you! Do you want to die?!" Strobe's voice was that of a shout now.

"N-no…" Streak was scared now. He began to sniff and hold back tears. It was just like when Strobe used to pick on him. Strobe quickly realized this and hugged his little bro as a means to comfort him.

"I 'm sorry I yelled at you… but… you really scared me. I don't want to see you get hurt little bro." Strobe said as he helped Streak up.

Streak couldn't help but feel bad that he had let his brother down. He held on to him as they made their way home. The park didn't seem at all appealing now.

" I really am sorry… big brother."

_Meanwhile in the Ice region_

Espio had taken off Charmy's helmet to see his hair all bloody a matted together. He quickly began to tend to the little bee while Tails was left alone to think.

The little fox couldn't help but think that Sonic was in trouble. As his little brother it was okay for him to worry about Sonic but something didn't feel quite right. Something felt extremely wrong. He felt that something bad was going to happen.

"As if sitting here and worrying would help…" Tails mumbled to himself.

"You say something Tails." Espio said not taking his eyes off Charmy's injured head.

"Oh… it's noth-I mean don't worry about it." Tails said not wanting to say something this scary was nothing.

_Strobe's Flashback_

A week later little Strobe and Streak had a run in with that dog again. This time however it was lying on the ground bleeding. It had an icicle piercing it's chest, which was strange because it happened to be summer. The dog was bleeding and clearly on it's way to death.

As soon as Streak saw the dog he hid behind Strobe but then realized that it was suffering.

"Strobe… what's wrong with the doggie."

"…It's… it's dieing."

"What!? We've gotta help it!" Streak got from behind Strobe and ran to the dog he kneeled down and saw it's eyes close. Strobe had already known it was too late but Streak never liked coming to terms with things he didn't want.

Soon the dog was dead and Streak was crying.

"Poor doggie. Why'd you have to die… you didn't even get to taste my mom's oatmeal cookie yet." Streak said as he wiped his tears away. Strobe walked toward him and sighed.

"Come on. We've gotta go Streaky."

"…Okay." Streak got up and was about to follow his brother when he stopped and turned back to it.

"What is it Streaky?"

"…I'm gonna bury it."

"What? But…"

"We need a shovel. Let's go get one."

Strobe stared at Streak's determined face then gave in.

"Alright. We'll bury it." Strobe said wondering how his brother could've been so forgiving.

_End Flashback._

"That being the first time Streaky had any experience with death I became more protective of him. However, a year later I made the biggest mistake of my life. I made three new 'friends' that I liked hanging out with. It was too late when I realized what their 'friendship' had done to me.

Sonic continued to listen getting more depressed as the story went on. It reminded him so much of him and Tails. He couldn't imagine having this happening to him.

_Flashback_

Strobe was hanging out with his new friends Tom, Zeck, and Marshal. The three of them hung out a lot before they met Strobe. Strobe really wanted to be friends with them because they were the neighborhoods cool kids. As of now Strobe was getting ready to go through his initiation.

"Stop following me Streaky!" Strobe said trying to drive his brother off once more but to no avail.

"But Strobe those kids are meanies! I saw them smoking one time too. They even stole a plastic flamingo off a guy's lawn once. Please don't go!"

"I already told you if you were scared of them then you should've stayed home." Strobe was beginning to lose his patience. It was dark out because Strobe was forced to sneak out in order to do this initiation. It wasn't long before lightning and thunder became present in the sky.

These were all the things that easily scared Streaky: Lightning, Thunder, and Darkness.

Knowing he'd be facing these things he still went out to try and stop Strobe from going to them. They were a bad crowd and Streaky loved Strobe more than he hated his fears.

"I couldn't stay home… not if it means you going to them."

Strobe sighed and continued into the forest where he met up with Tom, Zeck, and Marshal.

"Hey Strobe, whose the squirt." Zeck asked looking a little annoyed.

"He's my little brother. I told him to stay behind but he wouldn't listen."

"Well he'd better get lost unless he's doing the initiation too." Tom warned.

"He's not. In fact he was just about to head home. Right Streaky." Strobe said to his brother in a warning voice.

"I…uh…" Streak was too scared to speak.

"Well." Said Marshal impatient as well.

"I …um… " Streak wasn't sure what to say.

"Well Streaky! You DO know the way home right?"

"Y-yeah."

"Then what is it!?" Strobe was getting angry as the thunder roared behind them. Streak flinched and felt a rain drop. This was too scary for him.

"I want to go back but… it's too scary… the lightning and thunder… and the darkness…"

"What a wuss!" Tom joked.

"We wouldn't let you in our club even if you did pass the initiation!" Zeck shouted.

"Get out of here baby!" Marshal taunted.

Streak was near tears at this point but he still looked to his brother for support. Strobe however was just as impatient as the other three. He didn't know where it came from from but a huge rage had built up inside him. Didn't his brother want to have any friends? Did he want to hog him for the rest of his life? Strobe didn't know what to say or do. He even grew scared as his rage came full circle.

"Big brother?" Streak was getting even more scared as the rain joined the lightning and thunder.

"Leave Streaky…"

"B-but…"

"I SAID LEAVE! GO HOME! LEAVE ME ALONE AND DON'T COME BACK!!" Strobe shouted at his little brother. Everyone was frozen. Strobe had a look of regret on his face that Streak didn't care for at the moment.

Those words… those harsh words weren't like his big brother. The big brother he knew wouldn't have yelled like that. The big brother he knew would've protected him from the scary stuff… just like he promised him long ago.

Strobe couldn't bare this any longer. He immediately turned and ran away from everyone. Streak immediately followed his older brother.

"Big Brother wait! Please don't go?!"

"Leave me alone! Go away!" Strobe began to tear up as he said those words. He wanted to be alone. At least he thought that was it. He ran for what seemed like an eternity until he stopped and realized Streak was no longer following him. Strobe turned back around and ran into the unfamiliar part of the forest looking aimlessly for Streak.

It was raining hard so he couldn't see very well but he couldn't give up. He had to find Streak and apologize.

It wasn't long until Strobe found him huddled on the ground. He thought he lied there like that because he was scared. Strobe approached him and bent down to face him.

"S-Streaky…"

No answer.

"S-Streaky I-it's okay… it's me… your big brother…"

Still no answer

"Streaky… please… say… something… your scaring me. Streaky?" Strobe turned his little brother over and nearly jumped back in fright.

There was an emotionless and spooky expression on his face. One that showed he was unaware of his brother's presence. Blood trickled from his mouth. What he saw last scared him the most.

Like the dog they saw a year ago, Streak had an icicle piercing his chest. Strobe began letting his tears fall on top of his brother. His thoughts trying to deceive him by suggesting her was merely in a state of shock. Maybe it wasn't a serious wound. Maybe it wasn't his fault that this happened. He knew they were all lies.

He brought his brother to his chest and hugged him as hard as he could. He cried and cried as the heavens wept along with him.

"STREAKY! PLEASE WAKE UP! I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY! PLEASE!" All his shouts fell on deaf ears now. His brother was gone. He promised to protect him and he let him down.

He regretted yelling at him. He never got the chance to say sorry so Streak could hear it. Streak's last memory of Strobe was of him acting like a bully towards him. It was his fault that Streak didn't die happy. It was his fault he died around the very things that scared him. It was all his fault… he was evil.

_End Flashback_

"Afterwards I met Eggman accompanied by a boy my age with blue hair. His name was Karst. It turns out that him and Eggman had been doing their training in that forest and upon seeing Streaky, Karst killed him. I realize this but am still smart enough to know who the one at fault really is." Strobe said.

Sonic stood there quietly with his head down. Strobe noticed this but continued.

"Shortly after that Eggman attacked the town I lived in. My parents fled. I went to Eggman seeking help. He trained me and I became a junior assistant just like Karst earning my own metallic parts. My first mission was to kill the survivors of Eggman's attack; the ones that fled. I ended up killing Tom, Zeck, and Marshal, though not out of spite. It was simply an order. I never saw my parents again."

Patella was now crying hard. She never knew Strobe had been through so much. Sonic had his fist clenched as if not believing that all this could happen. In truth it scared him. This was an out written story of what would happen if he had ever let Tails down.

His determination to find Tails had doubled now.

"After another mission with Eggman, I was left extremely injured… and was found by Patella. She took me in and tended to me."

_Flashback_

12-year-old Patella was now taking care of Strobe in her room. She began to wrap bandages around him when Strobe decided to speak up.

"Why must you help me? I'm undeserving of it. I'm an evil person." His voice was very plain and emotionless.

"Don't be silly. You're not evil. You probably would've refused my offer of help is you were."

Strobe decided not to say anything further as she continued to bandage his arm. He sighed and let himself drift to sleep.

_End Flashback_

"After that I stayed in that village. I found a way to keep in touch with Eggman and occasionally left the village to carry out certain missions that acquired my attention."

"But why?" Patella stood up still crying. "Why couldn't you leave Eggman and live with me. I love you."

She made her confession as Strobe, now taken a back, began to answer.

"I love you too… but I couldn't leave Eggman because of my evil heart. Not only that but I felt a duty to protect you. I do what he commands me because it is my ambition yet my love for you allows me to stray from it at times."

Patella became silent.

"Now have you heard all you wished to hear hedgehog? If so let us continue our battle."

Sonic looked forward and nodded. Strobe came at him again with his palm full of lightning. He didn't call out the attack name. He felt no need to.

Sonic dodged quickly and leap to attack as well. He hit directly and knocked Strobe against a building. The commander then shot himself back at Sonic and launched punched after punch at him.

The speedy hedgehog dodged them all and grabbed his fist. He tried flipping Strobe over but he quickly retaliated by blasting Sonic in his back which sent him spiraling toward another run down building.

Sonic forced himself to regain his composure quickly as he came up on the building. He fixed his feet so they would hit against the wall and bounce him back. It ended up working and Sonic was able to launch himself back at Strobe.

Sonic tried kicking him as he made his way back but Strobe saw the attack coming and ducked. He then grabbed the hedgehog and thrust him hard against the gray soil. Strobe immediately retreated to the sky afterwards.

"Despite your speed, it would be very difficult for you to surpass the speed of lightning. Do you wish to continue?" Strobe asked.

Sonic struggled to his feet, wobbled a bit then chuckled. "Oh dear. I think you've got the wrong impression. I don't give up even if it's impossible for me to win."

Strobe simply nodded as he held out his finger and drew it across the sky in a straight horizontal line. When he did five sparkling dots appeared in front of him. Sonic was confused on what their purpose was when he saw them. However, they suddenly, quicker then the blink of an eye, all shot straight at him, leaving a streak of light behind as they did.

Sonic barely had time to dodge as it came toward him. When he decided to move there was already a huge crater in front of him and he had already been blown back and in front of the princess. She said nothing as he landed in front of her.

Sonic immediately got up and ran toward Strobe. Strobe expected an attack but he ran right past him. Ignoring the hedgehog's questionable tactics he created another horizontal line of dots and shot them at Sonic. This time they all split up in separate directions as a means to find different ways of destroying the hedgehog.

None worked however.

As soon as Sonic came up on one he immediately turned tail and ran. It was either that or leading the shots into other things such as buildings, crates, rocks, or themselves. When they were all gone Sonic had to actually stop to catch his breath.

"Behind you!" Came Strobe approaching voice. Sonic turned around to see the commander's palm in his face. Sonic immediately ducked backward as the shot came out, almost damaging his back as he did so. It ended up hitting the ground, which saved Sonic the trouble of dodging it any more.

Strobe simply looked as his finger then made another line across the air.

"If you're gonna try something new just let me know." Sonic said jumping backward. He seemed prepared for it this time.

"Very well… now!" Strobe immediately jumped toward Sonic, his palms overflowing with power. The hedgehog was completely surprised at this move as he quickly turned to run. As soon as he did the dots came to life and scattered to hunt the hedgehog down just like before only this time Strobe was coming too.

Having to deal with both Strobe and those troublesome blasts made the task of fending them off twice as difficult as before. They made their way around the entire destroyed village in doing this, both making sure to stay away from the princess as they fought.

Eggman and Bokkun simply watched in delight as the pawn did his job well. It made the genius feel really good inside.

Sonic kept dodging and kept running. The immense pain that he had dealt with earlier had re-built itself and began to take a huge toll on his body. Eventually Sonic made a grave mistake.

He tripped.

Immediately after his slip up a shot of lightning struck him in the back and sent him into the ground. Strobe stopped in his tracks to look at the hedgehog whining in pain.

"Argh! Damnit! Felt like a spear shot through my back! Sheesh!" Was all Sonic could say about the attack.

Strobe stared at the hedgehog as if he was the weirdest thing he has scene in a while. Getting hit by just one of those should've been enough to kill him.

"Yet you continue to surprise me…" Strobe said as Sonic continued to complain and roll on the ground. Strobe stood there and took in a deep breath. As soon as he let it out he whispered loud enough for Sonic to hear…

"Berserk mode! Max power!" Strobe immediately lit up with incredible blue lightning surrounding him. He raised his hands and accumulated many volts in his hands. By now sonic had stood up to see what he was doing.

It was an amazing sight! The amount of energy being accumulated into one huge mass at such as fast rate looked incredible. After about 30 seconds Sonic realized how serious the move Strobe was pulling was.

"Whoa! A-are you crazy! That's enough power to destroy the entire island!"

"Fear not hedgehog. I know very well how to angle my attacks. The only one who will suffer from the maelstrom of lightning… will be you!"

As the attack grew and grew so did Sonic's determination. He had never seen anything so huge and destructive. Not even one of Eggman's robots. It actually made Sonic itch with both excitement and fear at the same time.

This was it, the final blow. When the shot is fired Sonic would have to go all out. The hedgehog wiped out both his red chaos emerald and his golden ring.

"I hope this works… heh heh, if it doesn't I'm screwed…"

_Meanwhile in the Desert Region skies_

Hato noticed the sky was all of a sudden darker then usual as he looked out the window. Something interesting was happening and he wasn't anywhere near the fun.

Buru being a man of many questionable words looked out the window with mild interest. Something huge was about to go down. Whatever it was it didn't concern him so long as it didn't interfere with their mission.

Rasshu was the only one to speak in words how he felt about the sudden change in atmosphere outside.

"Heh heh… death is approaching… for who I can not tell…"

_Meanwhile just a little ahead of the Government agents_

Rouge sat on top of Smoke's ship as the clouds began to darken and spark with electricity. A huge sphere of electricity was forming in the distance behind them.

Smoke remained silent, as what was happening didn't interest him. Neither did Big and Froggy for they were sleeping again.

Rouge however growled in disgust.

"Why do I feel like my precious emerald is in danger?"

_In the Ice Region_

Shimon had taken shelter in a small cave he had found while on his journey to search for Tails. He decided to look outside and what he saw surprised him.

Lightning had basically eclipsed the sky all of a sudden. It sure looked powerful and life threatening. Why'd he have to get caught up in this? He was about to ponder this some more when he heard footsteps outside.

Fearing it to be Hang Nail he sat as still as he possibly could. Little did he know the thing that just walked by had indeed noticed him but simply didn't care for his existence.

Metal Sonic stopped as he passed by the cave to watch the sky.

"Hmph… looks like the hedgehog's been busy while I was away…"

_In another cave not far from there_

Tails couldn't help but worry as he, Espio and Charmy watched the sky twist and turn in the distance. Espio and Charmy were busy eyeing the sky with interest in what was happening but Tails already knew.

"Sonic… Sonic's in danger… "

_Back in the village_

"SONIC! This is the extent of my power! If you cannot dodge or deflect this… then you will die!"

"Yeah… I know."

"Do you still wish to continue?"

"… I do."

"So be it."

Strobe allowed his ball of humungous power to fluctuate and circle around itself. It looked as though it was turning itself into a spear of lightning.

Sonic held up his ring and his emerald. He allowed the two to connect and a huge power began to spark through them both.

As Strobe prepared for his final blow; Sonic prepared for his. This was the end of it all for one of them.

In a flash the chaos emerald Sonic had was gone and the ring was now glowing red. He held it out in front of him as if to say he was ready. Strobe nodded as he fixed his lightning so it was pointed at Sonic and only Sonic.

After about a minute of silence Strobe spoke up.

"…Go forth." His lightning obviously hearing his words didn't waste time and shot toward Sonic as if it were a monstrous cannon. Sonic held on to the ring for dear life as the blast drew closer and it eventually completely over took the hedgehog.

As soon as it connected it sent Sonic in the air. However, he was still able to push against it. They stayed in the same position for a while until Sonic finally retaliated.

He clutched the ring and turned into his ball form, a red glow now around his body. He stayed within the blast for a while drawing in electricity while doing so.

"Now… it's finally my turn!" Sonic spun as fast as he could them immediately shot through Strobe's blast seemingly with ease.

The entire thing was cut apart with just one move!

Strobe was beyond surprised as he saw the now furiously spinning hedgehog make his way toward Strobe. He looked like a red and blue lightning bolt as he did so. Strobe couldn't help but smile.

"I guess this… is what makes a true brother… this shining determination..." Strobe said before Sonic struck him11 in the chest carrying a large amount of firepower including Strobe's own power with him. The attack was obviously too much for Strobe as red energy shot through his body and sent him flying back to Eggman and the princess' location.

He landed in the dirt in front of Princess Patella… defeated.

Sonic stopped spinning and allowed himself to regain control of his body. When he saw the scene in front of him he forced himself to hold back his tears of regret.

Patella wasted no time in going over to him and holding his hand. She began crying and telling him it was going to be okay even though they both knew it wouldn't. Sonic walked up to both of them and saw Strobe in the condition he expected him to be in, A life-threatening one.

If anyone looked up they'd notice that Eggman was no longer there. He had already deduced the outcome of the fight the minute Sonic pulled out his chaos emerald. However, Bokkun remained behind to watch the situation unfold. He himself was near tears as well.

Sonic bent down to Strobe as him and the princess spoke to each other. The mood was far from calm in the conversation though.

"Why did you do such a thing!? Why did you HAVE to FIGHT!?" Patella didn't want this. It wasn't right. Thus couldn't happen now. It just couldn't. Strobe smiled and held her hand tighter.

"… Princess… this was indeed all to protect you… but… do not feel the need to be held responsible. I was on the verge of death either way. If… I refused to fight… Eggman would've pressed the button… and I would've been… destroyed. I doubt that I'd be of much help… without… a brain now would I…"

Patella cried, as did Bokkun who hated to see a fellow comrade die in front of him.

"The reason… I chose to fight… was to make sure that when I did die… there would be someone left alive to ensure of your safety… " Strobe felt his insides twist as he struggled to speak right. "…You… do know… by now that I love you… and I always have…"

Patella leaned in and for the first and last time gave the man who appeared so suddenly in her life the passionate kiss both desperately wished for. When she finally broke apart from him she could no longer speak. It was too hard too. However, Strobe still barely could so this time he directed his words toward Sonic.

The hedgehog stood in front of him feeling extremely low. Strobe seemed to notice this and smiled.

"…You're truly an amazing kid… 11-years-old and still so powerful… your little brother must look up to you greatly…"

"…I… uh… didn't… want it to end…this way… I just…"

"You have a brother to protect… I was the enemy trying to stop you from reaching your goal… It's an older brother's duty to do whatever it takes to make sure his little brother is kept safe… something I failed miserably on…"

"But you shouldn't blame yourself so much! It was Karst's fault NOT YOURS!"

"Would you have you forgiven yourself if you allowed your brother to be killed by someone as twisted as Karst…"

"…"

"I… thought so… never the less… I do realize now how unfair I've been toward myself… Streaky was always so kind… I bet he would've forgiven me… If only I could've forgiven myself…"

"Strobe…"

"Listen… your friend is in the ice region… he's heading steadily toward coordinates 000… my chaos emerald is in my chest compartment… with this information go forth… and save your little brother… become the big brother… that didn't make my awful mistake…protect him with your life… or you'll regret it FOR the rest of your life… understand…?"

"Y-yes… I-I understand…"

"Good… Sonic… Patella… I wish… the best for you too… despite my death… I'm happy… I've finally… come to… terms… with my… past… and… I'll get to see… my little brother… again… Streaky…"

The silence that followed signaled for Patella and Bokkun to continue crying. Strobe was gone. Regardless, Sonic reached into his chest compartment and took out a yellow chaos emerald. This made two for him. Without so much as a goodbye to the princess Sonic took off toward the ice region.

Strobe had died and the determination he now felt in rescuing his brother had once again doubled.

If only Strobe had been given a second chance... maybe him and Streaky could've died together instead of so devastatingly apart.

_In the Ice region_

Tails looked at the sky and noticed the electric sparks were gone. He felt a pain in his heart. As if something terrible just happened… however… it wasn't anything bad to Sonic… he was sure of it.

"Tails! You okay out there?" Espio asked noticing the little fox kid had been standing out there in the open for quite sometime. Tails took in a deep breath and silently answered.

"No… my heart feels… cold…"

_This was by far the longest chapter I have ever written! It feels great that I was able to do such an amazing thing. Anyway please read and review everyone. I'll be waiting to hear your responses._


	32. Chapter 32

_Hey there everybody! Summer is here for me and I'm so excited. I hope everyone's having fun. Here's the next chapter! Read and Review!_

**Chapter 31:Called out by the past **

_Flying overhead the dessert region_

Here again we see the 5 assassins sent out by the G.U.N to stop Commander Smokestack's mission.

_**Rasshu**__; second in command of unit 7; has blond hair and a pink bandana on his head; blue eyes; His attire is a plain white suit. _

_**Buru**__; Training instructor of unit 7; spiked black hair; Squinted eyes; Muscle bound; Attire consists of a black suit with golden spike straps around them with an unknown purpose._

**Shoui**; _Business and paperwork handler of unit 7;The only woman; Eye patch on her right eye with the G.U.N symbol on it; Silver hair; Attire consists of a black and purple suit._

_**Mardo**__; Head of the security division of unit 7; Big and round with skinny legs; red hair; Attire consists of blue shorts with a Hawaiian t-shirt (Why he would wear such a thing while he had a cold and is on his way to an ice region is unknown)_

_**Hato**__; First in command of Unit 7;Plain straight black hair; Tuxedo attire; Black eyes_

Hato begins to eye their monitor after what seemed like an eternity of boredom. On the panel screen in front of him were two moving yellow dots on a green grid. The first one marked their ship. The second marked the ship of Smokestack's.

"Hmm… I'm thinking it be best if we ignite the rocket engines now." He spoke all the while not taking his focused eyes off the grid. His arms and legs were crossed and he didn't slump back at all in the chair as he spoke.

The silent Buru moved his pupils over to Hato for a split second then back at the window. It seemed as though he was about to speak, however, Rasshu spoke first.

"Yeah, Haha! I had a feeling you'd figure this irregularity out sooner or later Hato. I had a hunch something was up but I couldn't be too sure. Haha!"

Hato simply nodded as Buru reached for the lever and floored the ship they were in.

"HATO!! Why must little ship go… uhhh…?" Mardo began before losing his word placement again.

"Fast. The word you're looking for is fast. It would very much please the audience if the actors remembered their lines okay?" Shoui said speaking up after being unusually quiet for sometime.

"… Um… okay." Mardo seemed as though he didn't care.

"Hey Shoui, why must you always speak as if this is some fantasy play. This is real life you know. If it isn't real enough for you I could always kick you out. I bet the impact you feel when you hit bottom would probably be your first real impact! HAHA!" Rasshu laughed while Shoui simply scuffed.

"Yeah that's what _she_ said you brain dead toothpick! An amateur actor like you doesn't deserve to be in such a highly anticipated play." Shoui remarked turning away from Rasshu.

"Oh please, your not going through your period again are you. That'd be the 7th time this week. Looks like your behind schedule. Haha!" Rasshu's remark didn't reach her ears however as she had completely blocked him from her train of thought.

Hato ignored his partners and stared at the monitor. Something was still wrong. They were moving faster but they hadn't reached Smokestack's ship yet. Since they were riding in a special model with a rare turbo speed module that G.U.N rarely used they should've caught up with him by now.

"Hmm… it would seem an unnatural deity has interfered with our mission… interesting."

_In Smoke's ship_

"Hey bat! Get up!" Smoke shouted as he pressed buttons on his console. Rouge had been asleep and woke up to see a frustrated and angered Smokestack.

"Yeah so what else is new…? Wait a minute… are we still flying? Why aren't we at least in the Ice Region yet? All I see is sand down there." Rouge looked out the window and let her sweat drop. If she had known it was going to take this long to reach the Ice Region she would've started her hunt for the emeralds a long time ago before they got out so far.

Big and Froggy were a bit confused as well. It didn't seem at all natural for them to not be there yet. Due to them speculating about this subject they were both surprised to see a small black sparkle floating outside the window. Suddenly they both felt cold.

"Uh… Rouge…Smoke… take a look at this thing." Big tapped both their shoulders and pointed to the small sparkle. Suddenly more came and floated by the window. As they did the sky around them grew dark and the ship began to take on turbulence.

Smoke gritted his teeth and pressed a button on the ships panel. Immediately the top hatch of the ship opened up and, without saying anything to the confused bat and cat, jumped out and on top of the ship. He then closed the hatch with his boot.

"Why'd he do that?" Big asked.

"He has his reasons. Right now I think I'd better take control of this thing before we crash." Rouge said as she crawled up in front.

Outside Smoke was looking intently at the now darkened sky. It was beyond stupid that a storm would just come out of nowhere like this. Not to mention the violet sparkles that were floating by were completely unnatural. It wasn't until Smoke saw the clouds spiraling apart that he knew what was going on.

Apparently he wasn't able to figure it out soon enough as a huge blast of black smoke shot down at Smoke and slammed against his ship with full force. The turbulence it caused made the three people inside the ship flip backwards.

"What the heck was that?" Rouge looked at the windows and saw them overshadowed by a black fog. "Well then… I'd saw this was pretty unnatural weather we're having but I guess it sort of goes without saying."

Meanwhile Smoke stood on top of the ship with his fists clenched and his teeth grinding against each other so hard they could've cracked if they weren't made of smoke.

An all to familiar figure materialized in front of him holding something grotesque.

"Darkness. Damn you…"

"Hello Smokestack. Glad I caught up with you. Would you like some?" Darkness asked holding up the grotesque item, which turned out to be a decapitated horse head.

"…You…sick bastard… did you actually?"

"Nope. Come on, you know me better than that. It was just a joke. I killed the horse and took its head to show. I thought it'd be appropriate to make a clownish entrance. Lighten up would ya?" Darkness said as he through the head off the ship.

Smoke straightened up and kept clenching his fists.

"You've got one twisted sense of humor."

"So I've been told. But despite you not liking my humorous greeting we've got matters to discuss." Darkness said putting his hands behind his back and walking back and forth on the ship.

Smoke stayed quiet while watching Darkness passé across the ship. The way he did it was so maddening. He was so calm. It was as if he didn't consider him a threat. It was extremly disrespectful.

"You see the time draws near when the fox is too reach the point of his awakening. And it would seem that you still haven't given up your ridiculous resolve to destroy him. At first I let it pass because I considered your efforts laughable. After all only fools try their hand at fate."

Smoke remained quiet.

"However, after the events that have transpired it would seem that perhaps I've been to careless in letting you progress like this. Things are happening that shouldn't be. Events that weren't predicted are taking place such as the arrival of 5 assassins sent here by your childish army. If something like this could happen it's pretty much guarantied that something else might happen that originally wasn't in my plans."

"… Really… how sad for you…"

"Yes well, I feel no emotion except for all the bad ones. However, I do grow tired of your idiotic prattling. It was amusing at first but…"

"Shut your mouth! How dare you refer the avenging of my clan as amusement! Especially if it's something that amuses a twisted guy like you!"

"Oh yes… _that _clan. The Diox Clan was it not. I wonder how well it's prospering." Darkness said while fiddling with his fingers.

Smoke was about to lose it when he said that. Not only was his clan not _prospering_ but also they had been completely obliterated and Darkness knew that! He was playing with him!

"Well I don't care. The point is that your services are no longer required. You've done your part and to be completely honest… you've stayed alive a lot longer than you should have."

"What makes you say that?"

"Remember our alliance Smoke… the one you, me, Dr. Eggman, and Bear Mayor made? The alliance that was officially broken when you decided to murder Bear Mayor. Remember?"

"… Yeah I remember."

"Well then you should realize where I'm going with this. It was every man for himself after that. We were each free to manipulate each other in any way possible in hopes of reaching our own goals. Ticking each other off, obliterating the allies of the other, and even killing our own if it were necessary. Eventually it would prove that the man with the strongest ambition would last the longest. Bear Mayor died almost immediately because of that. His ambition was to simply watch as people picked on the little fox and dispose of him when he saw no entertainment in it for him."

"Yeah he was a idiotic douche wasn't he?" Smoke straightened up not taking his eye of the cloaked schemer for a second.

"I don't consider him any more or less of a nuisance than you. Your idiotic venturing around this place is not only leading you nowhere but it lead you straight into a fix no one can get out off once involved. Your resolve to avenge your clan is stupid and it will not prosper. Despite the fact that your plans are doomed to fail I cannot let you continue. For if I do you prattling may cause something unpredicted to happen again. I'd much rather do things by the book. That's the kind of guy I am."

Smoke snorted and pulled back his fists. Smoke already started to accumulate in them.

"You done talking yet. It's more than clear what you came here to do to me."

"Oh, if it's that clear then I guess we can finally skip the formalities." Darkness raised one smoking black hand and slammed it of the top of Smoke's ship. Seconds later darkness started to spread from his hand and flow all across the ship.

Inside the ship Rouge noticed the controls breaking off and the seats started to rip apart. It certainly wasn't anything natural.

"What! The whole ships coming apart!" Rouge shouted trying to make sure her chaos emerald was with her.

"Hey stop it! I thought you here to simply destroy _me_!" Smoke shouted at the shrouded maniac as the ship began to come apart.

"Why don't you stop it? This is war, remember!" Darkness shouted while increasing his pressure. Dark smoke shot out of the ship and ripped through the metal. It engulfed Smoke and the three animals inside of it.

Eventually the dark powers flowing inside of it overflowed and blew the ship to pieces. Rouge, Big, and Froggy began their descend toward the planet. Smoke tried to extend his smoke outward to catch them but the dark smog emitting from Darkness swallowed it up and started to surround itself around the Commander.

Smoke could no longer see Darkness but he could clearly hear his annoying voice.

"Have you ever heard the phrase _'surrender yourself to the darkness'_ before?" He asked with a mocking tone.

"DAMN YOU!! Let me go! I haven't come this far so I could die by your hand! If I die I'll die by three hands only, natural death, the fox, or myself! You have absolutely nothing to do with my mission!"

"Oh don't I?"

"NO!! YOU DON'T!!" Smoke shouted as he let his power explode. With one quick power thrust he flung the darkness that was around him off and used his smoke to shoot himself downward. He eventually made his way down into the regular fresh air and saw that he was now in the ice region.

He flipped his body over so that his feet faced the ground and landed in snow perfectly. After about a minute of looking around he stood up straight and looked around again. His speculation was right.

He didn't know his exact location.

"Those three aren't here either are they?" Smoke said knowing that he was on his own now. "Damn. Guess I've got no choice, do I?" The commander looked at his watch and pressed a small button on it. A small compass slide over the clock in his watch and showed him which way was North.

"… Okay… So I have to go that way huh? Hopefully the fox is there too." Smoke took two steps forward before stopping and looking up at the sky. There wasn't a single trace of Darkness there. It was as if he hadn't shown himself at all.

"_Pff!_ I hate it when nature does annoying crap like that." He said as he continued he trek across the snow.

_Meanwhile a ship flying overhead was now entering the Ice Region as well_

Hato looked at the green grid and noticed the yellow dot they were chasing just disappeared.

"Hmm?" Hato noticed it stopped as soon as it entered the Ice Region. "Which means we're right on top of him!" Hato pressed a button on the ship's console and it began to slow down.

"Hmm? What are you doing Hato?" Rasshu asked while raising an eyebrow.

"It would seem we suddenly ended up right on top of Smokestack. We're landing here."

"Cool, Hawaiian snow for everybody!" Mardo said while sneezing soon afterward.

"Yeah sure. We need to make sure all the other G.U.N troops are prepared too. This fun little war is finally about to reach it's climax!" Hato said while sneering

_Meanwhile halfway through the Dessert Region_

"I don't believe this! How many freaking people are here anyway!" Eggman shouted angrily as he rode his eggmobile through the skies. He had to leave Sonic and Strobe's fight early because his beckon picked up many G.U.N ships heading inside 3-way-villa.

"They must've followed me here after I declared war on them. Out of all the times for this to happen! It would've been no problem if 4 of my 6 commanders hadn't died on me. What's worse is that the other two, Hang Nail and Metal Sonic, are clearly rebellious! I didn't get to see who won Sonic's fight but from the looks of things when I left Sonic was obviously going to come out on top again!"

Eggman picked up and small signal from Bocoe and Decoe. They were already in Coordinates 000 so they could pick up on who was heading there. Apparently the fox was getting closer to them as he spoke. Eggman had to smile at this.

"Heh Heh! Fine! If G.U.N wants a war… THEY'VE GOT A WAR!!"

_Near the end of the Dessert Region_

Knuckles and Amy make their way to the end of the Dessert Region after what seemed like an eternity.

"Finally! I can see the Ice Region's mountains." Knuckles said as he began to pick up his passé.

"W-wait for me Knuckles. The air is getting a bit cooler but I'm still tired from all the running." Amy pouted.

"I thought you said you were an abundance of countless energy Miss Marry Sonic!"

"I do have a lot of energy but I'm still a regular person! I'm not made of bricks like you Knuckles! Oh and I _will _marry Sonic! You'll see!"

"Yeah sure." Knuckles kept walking until he saw something strange up ahead. "Hmm? What's that?"

"Sand probably. It's always sand out here." Amy guessed.

"No, it looks like… a ship… someone must've crashed." Knuckles quickly ran toward the wreckage and spotted a white bat sitting on the ground rubbing her head.

"Sheesh! Can't I go one place without someone blowing something up in my presence." Rouge sat there and complained. She took out her purple emerald and wiped the sand off of it, wanting it to be as spick and span as possible.

"Hey you!" Knuckles shouted as he ran up to her. Rouge looked annoyed and immediately looked up to scold whoever it was that called her but stopped when she saw his face.

"What are doing with a chaos emerald?" Knuckles asked her as he knew that both him and Amy possessed the green and light blue one already.

Rouge stared at Knuckles' face and explored his features.

'_Wow. Crash in the middle of a desert and meet the hunk of the century. Not a bad deal. He looks a lot better the Gel That's for sure.' _Rouge paid no mind to his shouting.

"Hey! I'm talking to you!" Knuckles yelled getting angry at her lack of response.

Rouge quickly stood up and grabbed Knuckles' hand. This took the echidna by surprise.

"Amazing. You're hands are so tough and hard. They look like they could break stone. Oh yeah! This is what I was looking for!" She blurted out loud not minding the confused echidna.

"… Do you have some sort of problem lady?" Knuckles asked. Rouge chuckled at that statement and let go of his hand.

"My name is Rouge the Bat, okay slugger. Just call me Rouge."

"Uhhhhh Okay." Knuckles simply responded. About a second later Amy showed up.

"You're way too fast Knuckles!" Amy panted. Rouge got one look at her and was confused.

"That your girlfriend?" Rouge asked causing Knuckles to flip out.

"WHAT!? HER!? MY GIRLFRIEND!? THAT'S JUST SICK!?" Knuckles shouted in defense. It was enough to convince Rouge. It convinced her even more when Amy brought down her hammer down on Knuckles' head.

"What's so sick about being my boyfriend Knux! I'd make anyone happy especially my Sonic! Hmph!"

"D-damn you. That hurt you know!" Knuckles said while rubbing his head.

"Knux? That's your name?"

"A-actually it's Knuckles… the Echidna. YOU can just call me Knuckles. The whinny little bitch beside me is Amy."

"Sticks and Stones Knux!" Amy said with her arms crossed. She then immediately walked in front of both of them and made her way toward the end of the region.

"Hmm, what an interesting team you two make. I do believe my luck is about to change." Rouge said as she followed the girl. Knuckles got up and walked after her. He still wished to know why she had an emerald but decided not to ask it. After all what was important was actually getting them all together.

_Ice Region Center_

"Are you sure you don't need some help Tails?" Espio asked in a worried tone as he carried the injured and tired Charmy Bee on his back.

"I'm fine Espio, really? You don't need to worry about me." Tails continued to walk forward on his tired legs. In reality he didn't want to keep going like this but he knew he had too. The reason everyone was here was because of him after all. He didn't understand why though.

What could've happened in the past to cause all this? Why does everyone want him dead? He was only four! He surely couldn't have been that important.

"Hey, something's up ahead." Espio said all of a sudden. Tails looked up and realized that Espio was right. A figure was walking toward them. It was slow and obviously limping.

"Who-who is that?" Tails said as he continued to look on.

_Ice Region Starting Point_

The G.U.N ship carrying the 5 assassins landed at the start of the Ice Region. Soon after about 50 smaller ships landed beside them. Every soldier stepped out with their guns in hand and stood completely alert.

Hato and the other four assassins walked around the snow as a means of deducing the amount of snow that had been accumulated in the region. When they were done they stood in a straight line and looked at the G.U.N troops with serious looks.

"All right. We're about to inform you all about how this mission is to be carried out. Listen carefully because I do not repeat myself. If anyone asks me too I won't hesitate to kill them. If anyone does anything that isn't by our orders they will die as well." Hato explained in a straightforward manner.

The soldiers flinched at Hato's scary demeanor. The way he could just stand there with a clear face and say they will all die if even one thing doesn't go by the book was downright scary.

"This is how it is to be done. Rasshu and his unit will head off toward the Dessert Region to completely surround the entrance from there into the Ice Region. The entrance is long so soldiers will be lined up at the exact line that separates both regions. People could try to come in at any location on that line. Stay alert at all costs." Hato explained.

"Figures I get the boring job." Rasshu complained as he crossed his arms. Hato ignored his statement and continued.

"Mardo and I will stay here with our share of you solders to make sure the Ice Region is rid of the pests that are undoubtedly here. Once we find Smokestack we'll detain him."

"Okay Hato but I want a snow cone afterward. AAAAAAAACHOOOO!!" Mardo sneezed again, wiped his nose, then took out an ice pack and tied it around his forehead.

"This feels nice and warm." He said as he wiped his hands over his Hawaiian t-shirt.

Hato's sweat dropped but he kept his focused demeanor on.

"Buru and Shoui will take their ships and head DIRECTLY to Coordinates 000. Of coarse a share of G.U.N troops will be helping them." Hato explained.

"Ah, a worthy partner. That's good. The stars of the show can't be mediocre pussies like Rasshu." Shoui said laughing. Rasshu flipped when he heard that.

"AT LEAST I HAVE A PUSSY DAMNIT!! INCONCEVABLE BITCH!! I'LL HARPON YOUR EYES OUT!!" Rasshu shouted. Shoui simply laughed at this.

"Enough! We're beginning now. Does anyone have any questions?" Hato asked. One of the soldiers raised his hand. Hato quickly took out his pistol and shot the soldier in the brain. He fell to the ground as he died instantly.

"Impressive. Only one raised their hand. That was a test. It seems we really were given a good batch of soldiers."

Hato didn't notice it but every soldier's heart skipped a beat when the gun went off.

"All right. We have our missions Let's get to it." Hato finished. Rasshu quickly jumped into action.

"Heh Heh! No problem! With my speed coming close to that hedgehog's speed I'll be back at the Dessert Region in a flash! Hope you soldiers can keep up!" Rasshu immediately took off after that leaving the other soldiers to take their ships.

Buru and Shoui ran to their ships and took off for Coordinates 000 with their share of soldiers. Hato and Mardo turned to their share of soldiers and motioned for them to move on.

"Leave your ships behind and embrace the cold air. If you cannot bare it speak now and I'll let you go back."

No one said anything.

"Good. That was another test. If any of you had spoken one word without my permission I would've _literally_ ripped your brains out and teared them to pieces." Hato said as he began to walk.

"It's true. I've seen him do it before. It was cool!" Mardo said as he continued on. The look on the soldier's faces clearly showed that they didn't think it was _cool_.

_Dessert Region Starting Point_

Sonic zoomed out of the Green Hill Region and finally made his way into the Dessert Region. He had to catch up to Tails as soon as he possibly could. He now had two promises to keep. The one he made to Strobe and the one he made to his little brother.

"Come on feet! Go faster!" Sonic sped across the dessert hoping that he wasn't too late.

_Dessert Region Close to Ending Point_

"Wow, sounds like living on that island must be boring." Rouge said in response to Knuckles' explanation.

"Yeah… I get decent reception up there though. If only I had cable damnit!" Knuckles shouted.

"Oh yeah, that's certainly what you need. T.V rots your brain you know." Amy said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"…Guess so… Hey what's that?" Knuckles saw something heading toward there location at an incredible passé. They didn't have time to question what it was again before in stopped in front of them and dusted off the bottom of it's shoes.

"Hello there! You must be Smokestack's accomplice." Rasshu said with a cheerful friendly smile on his face. He had gotten there surprisingly quick.

Rouge looked up at the assassin and squinted her eyes as if she was reading him. The way he ran here reminded her of Sonic. Who was this weirdo?

"And you would be?" Rouge said in an annoyed tone. She was trying to get to know her new interesting red friend here.

"Oh! My apologies! I'm Rasshu! I'm second in command of Unit 7 of the G.U.N."

"What? But that's an assassination unit!" Rouge shouted obviously shocked.

"Why yes it is." Rasshu answered with his still cheerful smile on.

"Why are you here! Were you the ones who made Smoke's ship crash?" Rouge flew up to meet Rasshu's face. The assassin simply chuckled.

"Could be. I don't know. All I know is that while we were tailing your ship it suddenly disappeared from our beckon. We decided to land and guess who I ran into. An interesting bat character. You don't have anything of value on you, do you?" Rasshu asked.

Rouge was about to respond to that when Knuckles butted in.

"Look, I don't know what's going on and I don't care. Frankly I don't trust either of you two if you're with the government. Those G.U.N geeks held me and Amy up a lot when we were doing our research and I don't appreciate them holding us up now." Knuckles said as he walked past the two of them with Amy following.

Rasshu raised his eyebrow at Knuckles then spoke.

"You look pretty messed up there buddy. You get into an accident or something?" Rasshu asked as he turned his body completely toward the echidna.

"…A fight… for a friend… a fox with two tails. I've gotta go. Come on Amy." Knuckles said as he started up again.

Rasshu stayed quiet for about another minute before he spoke again.

"A two-tailed fox… I see…"

Suddenly a rush of wind went by Knuckles and before he knew it he was face first in the sand with a smoking boot on his head. The echidna was confused as to how such a shift in position could happen so fast until he looked up and saw Rasshu and his boots. There was smoke coming from the bottom of their soles.

'_This guy is fast'_ Knuckles thought.

"A friend of the fox we were sent here to kill eh?" Rasshu said in a silent tone. Knuckles and Amy freaked when they heard that.

"You've come to kill-" Amy began before Rasshu shushed her.

"Please don't talk. I'd like to get this all over with. You're all coming with me, conscious or not."

_Ice region near ending point_

Tails walked faster and faster as he slowly begins to realize the shadowy figure he and his company have spotted was in fact a person. Not just a person but a little boy at that.

When Tails had fully caught up to him he immediately bent down to face him and see if he was all right or at the very least alive! The clothes this kid wore were defindently not well suited for this kind of weather!

"Hey! Are you okay! Get up or you'll freeze!" Tails said lifting the boy's upper half into his arms not even aware of Espio and Charmy's presence behind him.

The little boy had his eyes closed but they soon began to flicker open again. It was possible that hearing another kind voice again after such a long while triggered it but that was not the issue here.

"It's a kid. What's he doing here especially when he's dressed like that?" Espio asked to no one in particular. Apparently ninjas were like that.

"Who are you?" Tails asked in a silent but warm voice. It was very welcome to the child for he would prefer anything warm to this frozen over hell.

"I…my name… I forgot…" The kid squeaked. He sounded very tired. If Tails didn't know any better he'd say the kids lungs were frozen.

"You forgot your name?" Tails wasn't sure if he really did of if he was just delirious.

"I…my name… my name is Shimon… but… it's not important…" The kid spoke as if he had no desire to carry on anymore. "… Are you… is your name… two-tail…?"

"T-Two tail?" Tails asked now in a confused state. There were only a few people in the world that called him that and none of them should be alive. Could this boy be someone who survived? All of a sudden Tails didn't feel like helping him but knew he'd feel guilty if he didn't.

"Yeah… that's what… he said… your name was…" Shimon said slowly followed by a cough. Tails' eyes bugged out.

"H-he?" Tails was confused again. If it wasn't him then who told this boy his old taunt name. Tails looked the kid over and saw claw marks all over his body. Ice crystals filled them in and obviously caused the poor kid amazing discomfort.

Tails couldn't believe how injured this kid looked. On top that he looked near frozen and he was wearing summer clothes in a clearly winter environment.

"Why are you dressed like that? What are you doing out here like this?" Espio asked in an almost scolding tone. This kid should've known better than to go out in weather like this dressed like that.

"I… live in the… Green Hill region… but… I was… taken here… against my own will…"

"By who? Who did this to you?" Tails asked almost getting ready to shout. He started to fear the worst had happened. He wanted to leave his horrible past behind but this awful situation just wouldn't allow him to forget!

Tails didn't notice it but his palms were sweaty despite the cold weather and the fact that their only protection were thin white gloves. His heart would've beated out of his chest if he weren't positive that it was frozen by now.

What he was suspecting just couldn't be true! Maybe he was jumping to conclusions! It could've just been someone who saw his two tails and misinformed Shimon! As much as Tails wished that were true his incredible deductive reasoning kept telling him the opposite.

"Please… just tell me… who did this to you?" Tails asked again a little quieter then before. Shimon finally spoke up.

"He… told me… to give you a message… he said… he said he is waiting… waiting for you at… at coordinates 000… He said he wants… a re-match with you… he told me to… tell you… that… he wanted to kill you… for his… friends sake…"

"WHO told you that? WHO is he?"

"My memory… it's a little fuzzy… but I think I…He's… his name… he told me to call him… Commander…"

"C-Commander? Commander who?"

"Commander… Hang… Nail…"

Tails heart just about stopped. He almost fell backward and fainted from the shock. It wasn't fair. This couldn't happen. After an extremely long early childhood life of torture he finally thought he could get away from such trouble.

It almost seemed like he attracted all this pain and suffering. Were the small and helpless really such tempting targets to the world? Maybe that's just how he was born.

Tails didn't want to think about this anymore. He didn't want to do anything anymore. But for some reason just looking at what Hang Nail did to Shimon angered him to no end. Hang Nail was a bully all right but he was only supposed to bully freaks like him. This kid was ordinary and he doesn't look like he did anything wrong! And what does Commander have to do with him?

Suddenly realization came to Tails so fast it would've left a scorch mark in his brain.

"Hang Nail… works for Eggman now doesn't he?" Tails asked in a small shocked voice. He didn't notice it but he was clenching his fists really tight.

"Y-yes…" Shimon answered ever so slowly.

"He… he actually… joined up with that mean egg guy after he killed his bully friends! How… could he… how could anyone…?" Tails was clenching his fists so hard that they would've caused his hands to bleed if he weren't wearing gloves.

What Hang Nail was doing strayed way past mere bullying. He wasn't even teetering on borderline evil. He WAS evil.

"…Did… did he want me to come by myself?" Tails asked with angry tears in his eyes. Shimon noticed them and harbored a confused look on his face but answered the little fox's question never the less.

"Y-yeah… he said… it was supposed to be… an honorable one-on-one match…" Shimon said while coughing again. Tails nodded and looked out into the snow.

It was obvious that Hang Nail was still an ingenious liar. One look at Shimon would tell anyone that there was nothing honorable about this.

Tails looked down at Shimon and could tell he didn't want to answer any more questions. He obvious wanted to get someplace warm and go to sleep. However, Tails had one more question to ask.

"How far did you have to walk…?"

"…N-not too far… you should be able… to get there from here… by foot… but… he's dangerous… he's…"

"It's okay… you don't have to talk anymore if you don't want to…I'm going." Tails said as he handed Shimon over to Espio. "Could you do whatever you can to warm him up? He looks like he feels really bad.

Espio took Shimon in his hands and then looked straight at Tails. After serious interrogation with his eyes he finally spoke.

"Tails… as a ninja… I'm all for honor… but… after your fight with Karst you seem pretty banged up. I frankly think it's a miracle a kid your age is still conscious. Are you sure you wish to go on your own?" Espio said not budging an inch. It was clear from his posture that he was ready to allow Tails to do anything he thought was right.

Tails looked at Espio straight in the eyes and nodded. In response Espio sighed then smiled lightly.

"All right if you honestly believe you can handle it then go. I won't try to stop you." The chameleon was impressed with the fox's bravery.

"Thank you Espio… really…" Tails said quietly before turning around and running toward the direction Shimon came from.

Espio hadn't realized it but the snow had stopped falling a while ago. It was silent now. He looked on and eventually saw Tails disappear in the distance. He sighed once more and backtracked his steps all the way back to the cave with Charmy on his back and Shimon in his hands.

"I swear I'm like a traveling daycare center…" He mumbled while still smiling in contempt to himself.

_Meanwhile hiding behind a rock near the scene_

Big and Froggy sat there feeling relieved that they were alive. It had to be luck but they didn't dwell on it. They had just spotted the fox Smoke was after.

"I should probably call that Smoke guy." Big deduced as he pulled out his communicator. He pressed the ON button but it didn't turn on. It figures. If both Big and Froggy survived the crash it would've been a downright miracle if all their technology did as well.

"Guess we're gonna have to get the info to him some other way huh Froggy?"

"Ribbit!" The frog croaked signaled a yes and they both continued to sit there and think of their options.

_Ice Region starting point _

Sonic had finally reached the line between the Dessert Region and the Ice Region. Just a few more steps and he'd be there!

However when he saw the line he was greeted by G.U.N soldiers with their guns pointed at him.

"Hey! Is that Sonic?" One solider asked.

"It doesn't matter who it is! We can't allow anyone past this line or Hato will kill us! Fire everyone Fire!" Another soldier shouted. They all agreed, took aim and fired at the hedgehog.

Sonic would've made some joke if this was any other situation but by the look on his face he sure as hell wasn't in a joking mood. As soon as they fired he dodged left, right, up, and down until he made his way toward them.

He didn't even care if they moved or not. He proved that by bowling over two of the soldiers in his way and entering the Ice Region.

It instantly grew cold and he could feel his feet sink into the snow with each step he took. He kept running however and didn't dare to look back. That's when he met the wall, the ice wall!

Sonic stopped dead in his slowly disappearing tracks and stared at the huge wall of ice in front of him. He could've spun into a ball and slammed through it but that would probably cause him more bad then good. He didn't need a mountain of humongous ice cubes raining on him.

"Damn! I'm gonna have to go around!" Sonic picked up his feet and was ready to move when a familiar voice stopped him.

"Hold it hedgehog!"

Sonic stopped and for the first time turned back to see someone he hadn't expected to see in a place like this.

"You… I remember you… what are you doing here?" Sonic asked in a surprised tone as the person he addressed walked toward him with a huge grin plastered on his face.

"Oh you know. I'm just here to help. After all you helped me out and I don't like not repaying debts. I'll blow a hole through this ice real quick. It may get a little wet but nothing destructive will happen." He said confidently while pulling back his breath then releasing it sending out a huge gust of fire through the wall of ice and making a big enough passage for them both to get through.

"Wow! Nice work! I really appreciate your help!" Sonic said in astonishment.

"Ah don't worry about it! This mission is completely free of charge considering the circumstances. Don't worry about a thing because the great detective Vector is on the case!"

And with that Sonic and Vector headed out together.

_Thank You! Thank you everyone for reading this long chapter! Sorry it took a little while longer to get this one up. Review please and the next one will be up in a while._


	33. Chapter 33

_Thank you everyone! Your kind words are greatly appreciated. I'm so close to that ultimate survival game I can almost taste and/or see it! Read and Review please!_

**Chapter 32: He finally arrives**

A few more steps and he'd be a few more steps away from where he was standing. That's about as much progress Smokestack had made while making his little trek through the seemingly endless field of snow.

This whole thing seemed pretty annoying to him. Even if the kid had an evil spirit inside of him it shouldn't be this hard to kill a four-year-old fox. It seemed stupid that they required such a huge amount of military power to destroy just one baby animal. The more he thought about it the angrier he got.

"Well, I guess it doesn't matter. After all what G.U.N does isn't any of my concern, at least not in the long run."

"Now do you think that's fair, blocking my comments out like that." Came that dreadful voice again.

Smoke stopped dead in his tracks and cringed as he turned slightly to see what he was more than sure would be there. More black smog rained from the sky and accumulated into that unforgettable figure.

Darkness was back again but despite his being here during Smoke's hour of turmoil only one thing crossed the commander's mind at that point.

"That entrance of yours is getting repetitive. You're a very uncreative person when it comes to appearance you know." Smoke had turned his body so that he was completely facing Darkness now.

"Well I'm sorry if that's true. I tend to save my creativeness for the type of torture I inflict on my victims. However, I have no time for creative fun considering I'm dealing with you. After all an incredibly plain person deserves an incredibly plain death." Darkness spoke while taking a few steps forward.

Smokestack and Darkness just stood there and stare at each other for what seemed like an annoying long year. Smoke suddenly ran forward and charged at Darkness with his right fist pulled back. The cloaked schemer stood still with both hands behind his back.

Smoke tried punching him but Darkness simply slid across the ground to the right in order to avoid him. He didn't even require the movement of his feet. Smoke kept punching at him but Darkness always ended up in another location. He eventually jumped on Smoke's outstretched arm and kicked him in the face.

The kick was enough to get him on the ground but he quickly recovered by flipping backwards and sliding across the ground.

"Hey, look behind you!"

Smoke turned around and saw Darkness with his palm now in Smoke's face. A dark energy blast started to form in his hand with an increasing pressure that struck Smoke's face.

"Goodbye dear friend." Darkness fired and Smoke immediately retaliated by firing his smoke around Darkness' blast to contain it. When that didn't work the blast exploded and blew both of them backward.

"You should no better than to try and insult my being by thinking you can finish me off with such a horrendously weak attack." Smoke said charging his hand up with his element again.

Darkness dusted himself off and cracked his neck.

"My apologizes. Perhaps this time I should be more direct with my attacks." Darkness said with his hands glowing.

Not a second later had they both charged at each other with tremendous speed and collided with an amazing aftershock following. The snow was pushed back as their powers collided and created a dangerous aura around them.

Smoke and Darkness continued to strike at each other creating shockwaves across the land as they did so. They eventually carried their battle farther across the area and higher in the sky. Anyone watching the fight from a distance could've sworn there were fireworks going off.

They both pushed each other back in to the snow and they immediately bolted at each other again. The collision completely obliterated most of the snow underneath them making the land under it visible again.

Darkness had Smoke's hands in his tight commanding grip. Smoke simply grunted as he pushed his hands against Darkness'.

"Nice grip. It won't do you much good though." Darkness lifted his leg and quickly swiped at Smoke's face making a direct hit. He then just as quickly grabbed the commander's leg and slammed it, along with him, against the ground.

Smoke hit the ground so hard he flopped back up which Darkness quickly took to his advantage by kicking it away and allowing it to hit the ground again. Smokestack rolled a bit but once again regained his composure.

"Like I've said before, you are an impressive being. Most of my victims would die instantly the second they came in contact with my body. Of coarse I didn't expect you to die so easily, but the fact that you've actually lived this long while confronting me is simply… exhilarating! It's been a long time since I've been in a fight that lasted more than eight and a half seconds. I thank you for rekindling my fighting spirit. I'm sorry to say the fun's about to end." Darkness said while approaching the frustrated commander yet again.

Smoke quickly realized that his current position was no good for fighting and almost forced himself up when he did. This guy was not only toying with him, he was deliberately insulting him! All it took was a couple of kicks and that amazing posture to do it too. It was so maddening!

That was it! No more games! No more playing around! A high-ranking commander with such an honorable mission wasn't about to give in to some chump who hid his probably stolen face under glowing hooded leather. Smoke got ready to charge his hands up again and leaned forward for another attack. Maybe he was being direct but damnit all if he didn't care!

Before he could charge at Darkness with his hatred filled attack the cloaked man raised his palm toward him. At first Smoke thought it must've been another attack but then noticed that nothing was happening. When you're fighting Darkness _nothing_ was the last thing to happen.

"…Oh… it seems we have some company… and they've been here for a while…" Darkness spoke suddenly and fiercely swiping his hand across the air around him so that the dust that had accumulated by them during their fight had dissipated. When it cleared they appeared to be surrounded by G.U.N soldiers!

Smoke's eyes widened when he saw them. They finally caught up with him did they? What a time to do it too! He was so close he could almost taste his revenge.

"It seems to be that silly little army you're accustomed to. Oh my, and they brought their oh so intimidating toys with them." Darkness said now with his hands behind his back.

Not but a second after Darkness had spoken up had all the G.U.N soldiers had come out of hiding and pointed their guns at both Darkness and Smoke.

"It seems your friends aren't playing nice. You didn't kick you commanding officer in the balls again did you?" Darkness said not moving an inch from his place in the snow.

Smoke ignored his comment and instead focused on the last two people to come into view.

'_No! They didn't! They sent in the Assassination Unit 7! Was what I was doing really that much of an annoyance to the geeks down at G.U.N Headquarters.' _Smoke's eyes twitched with anger as he saw the two assassins approach him. The round one was Mardo and the focused one was of coarse Hato.

"And just what the hell do you want!" Smoke shouted not at all in the mood for G.U.N's idiocy.

"My… don't we have a temper. If it's all the same to you I'd rather you take what I'm about to say to heart and follow through by doing exactly what I tell you. You see we're relieving you of your duties here. The government has realized that the threat we deal with is far beyond that of a mere forest commander's understanding." Hato explained which made Smoke stare angrily into the man's eyes.

"As you may know we've already figured out that you went out on this mission by yourself without notifying headquarters of it's details. It was an action that would very well cost you your rank considering it was to chase a wanted and dangerous animal like that fox. We were told about an incident at the Station Square mall that had him on the run. Normally this wouldn't be such a big deal if it weren't for the fact that our planet's greatest hero associated in his escape! As you might of guessed this put G.U.N in a very awkward situation."

Smoke couldn't stand listening to this guy's voice. It was like getting lectured by the class bully! Each word he spoke made Smoke want to charge at him in blind furry.

"I'm glad they were finally able to come to a decision and nip this one in the bud before it spread to far. That's why they sent us here. Long story short… you're in the way! We'll be taking it from here!"

That did it. Smoke couldn't care less about his rank or whatever it was he had in G.U.N now.

"How dare you! HOW DARE YOU! This is my fight NOT YOURS! None of you have they right to say that I can't continue doing what I doing! I want to kill the fox too and I'm just one man! How am I in the way?" Smoke shouted his twitching eyes making him look like a madman. Never the less Hato stayed calm and continued.

"Too be honest… I don't know the true intent of Headquarters on this matter and I simply don't care. All I care about is killing the fox in the most brutal and slow way imaginable!" Hato said surprising everyone when he actually raised his voice! It even took Smoke by surprise.

"I'll admit it… the reason… the _**only**_ reason I joined G.U.N was so that I could have a license to kill!" Hato admitted. Everyone gasped except Mardo and Darkness. Hato immediately grew angry and turned to face his soldiers.

"Did I say you could gasp you weaklings? Stay quiet or I'll kill all of you!" Hato's normally calm demeanor had disappeared. He turned to face Smoke and continued yet again.

"See what you made me do? I'm not one to fly off the handle but you just had to keep **punching** my buttons didn't you?! The only reason I'm angry now is because you're doing something that I don't take kindly to people doing." Hato explained.

"Oh really… and what's that you sick twisted fiend!" Smoke said a little more calmly than he had anticipated. Darkness had been quietly listening to this interesting conversation.

"You're trying to steal… MY KILL!"

"What! Your kill!"

"Did I stutter? I just said that the only reason I joined G.U.N was to have a license to kill. That way I could kill all I wanted while bending my way around the rules so that I wouldn't have G.U.N breathing down my neck when I killed in a criminal state of matter. Not to mention my face is a lot more suited for a license than a wanted poster. The thought of someone like you getting in the way of my right to kill is the only thing that ever upsets me. Congratulations. You just managed to faze the seemingly unfazed Hato."

Smoke and Hato seemed to stare into each other's eyes for what seemed to be under extremely thick air. It was an intense glare fest that wasn't broken until a loud cackle was heard coming from the only person there who would have the guts to laugh at such a moment.

Everyone's eyes were all now on Darkness as he laughed at G.U.N's disorderly misconduct.

"HAHAHA! Well it seems this army is a much bigger façade then even I anticipated it to be. Honestly! Is this how headquarters rewards their dogs! Kill an innocent child and you'll be marked as a hero! How very rich! It's too funny! HAHAHAHA!!" Darkness continued to mock G.U.N and laugh while he did so.

Hato closed his eyes and stood there. He looked as if he was searching for something he'd lost. Once he found it he opened his eyes. They were calm once again.

"Okay… I admit it. I wish to be the one to kill that fox. I lust for his slow and painful death and I want the blood to be ever flowing. It's a killer's ultimate fantasy to see such an innocent and young cute looking boy like him being tortured to the point of wishing he were dead. Of coarse I'm no barbarian. I did remember to bring mops so the Earth can look beautiful again after I've had my fun." Hato explained.

"Yeah whatever lets you sleep at night you bastard!" Smoke shouted angrier than before. Smoke simply wanted to kill the fox because he wanted to avenge his clan. The only reason Hato wanted to kill him was to satisfy his inhuman lust for child blood and tears. It was just sick! To think that people like him actually exist!

"Your words are too much! Mardo! Men! Ready your guns! Prepare for battle!" Hato shouted as they pointed their guns at Darkness and Smoke. Darkness simply laughed at this.

"Well it seems you've been disabled Smoke. I see no reason to kill you now. Turns out that these assassins are a big enough diversion for me." Darkness smirked as he turned himself into a puff of black smoke and drifts away. Hato saw him do it and immediately decided on a counter measure.

"Although you were one of few who've managed to piss me off Commander Smokestack I'm afraid I must leave you in Mardo's hands! After all I can't let such a powerful deity get away can I?" Hato said turning to his men. "Listen! My division, come with me to follow the cloaked one! Failure to comply immediately will result in your deaths." Hato shouted receiving a quick salute from his men.

Soon they were off leaving Smoke surrounded by Mardo and his share of soldiers. Mardo was continuously biting a Popsicle stick for seemingly no reason while his men readied their guns.

"This is nice and hot! I like this weather. A-AAAAACHOOOO!!" Mardo sneezed as the cold weather got to him yet again. Smoke's sweat dropped when he saw the way Mardo was dressed. A Hawaiian shirt and blue shorts were not essentials when heading out into the snow.

"Damn! I don't have time for this idiot! While I'm here Darkness and Hato are getting closer to the fox!" Smoke unconsciously shook his fist at Mardo knowing full well he wouldn't have regretted it if he had known he was doing it.

"I guess we have to attack now. OOOOOKAAAAAY! Men get ready to FIYAAAA!! ACHOO!!" Mardo shouted out the ridiculous sounding commands which the soldiers followed not at all hesitant.

"Damn it! Just one little diversion is all it would take…" Smoke muttered to himself. He cursed to no one in particular in his head knowing full well the chances of a diversion happening were…

"OUT OF THE WAY YOU SISSY SOILDERS!!" Came the thought-piercing shout of the incoming blue hedgehog and his green friend.

Mardo turned his head to the back of him and the first thing his eyes saw was the bottom of Sonic's shoe striking him in said area. The hedgehog then bounced off of Mardo's head and landed in front of Smokestack. Behind him Vector trampled over the stunned Mardo just as Sonic finished his descent.

Sonic looked up and immediately recognized the man in front of him.

"You!" He began before Smoke turned and ran the direction he saw Hato and Darkness head.

"Hold that thought!" Smoke blasted himself through the soldiers in his way and ran across the snow with blazing speed. The soldiers fell to the ground looking completely stunned and confused.

"OI! WHAT'S WITH MY HEAD BASSHING?! I mean what's with who be head bashing me with… uhhhhhhh… ACHOOO! Whose there?" Mardo was confused as he stood up while wiping his snot-covered nose with his frozen finger and flicking his hands across the air to try and get it off.

Sonic ignored Mardo and instead focused on what happened earlier. Smoke was obviously heading toward the goal he had wished to accomplish through this whole ordeal. Sonic knew what that meant and he had to catch up!

"Hold it hedgehog!" Came the shout of a random soldier as they held their guns out at him.

"Hold what! You soldiers always say 'hold IT'! Tell me what IT is already damnit!" Sonic said clearly frustrated.

"Hey, don't worry about it Sonic. We can take these guys. They're just punk soldiers." Vector said in a reassuring tone silently hopping none of them took a shot at his still healing back.

"Ordinary? I'm no orange… err… ordinary slugger… ordinary soldier I mean… I think… what was I saying…? I'll defeat you crocodile!" Mardo was trying to find the correct words to say while Sonic and Vector stood there confused by this man's vocabulary.

"Hey Sonic, here's an idea. You take the soldiers and leave the round guy to me. Something about him makes me what to fight him."

"Sure Vector! I do better when the odds are against me anyway!" Sonic said not wasting any time and started to attack all the soldiers in his way. Vector lunged at Mardo with his fist extending forward. To his eternal shock Mardo caught it quite easily.

Vector tried punching again but Mardo flipped Vector over and slammed him on the ground. The frustrated crocodile quickly got up and began blasting fire balls from his mouth out at the agent. Mardo simply punched them all away with ease.

"Head of security can't be weak, so says Hato!" Mardo shouted in triumph. Vector simply smirked and began to charge at him again.

"That's all fine and dandy but I ain't losing to a guy like you. Simply because you look the way do!" Vector began to punch again and Mardo easily matched his punch with another one. They fought and hit each other as face as they possibly could knowing that something would eventually have to give between the two of them.

Meanwhile Sonic was easily fighting his way through the crowd of soldiers in his wake, the only thing on his mind being that he had to get to Tails before the other guys did.

'_Can't let him down… I just can't!'_

_Ice Region End Point_

Tails continues to run across the snow toward the place his destiny was certain to come to pass. He didn't know it or think about it at the time because he was too afraid of what was ahead rather then what it would lead to.

"I hate this… I wish Sonic was here… I bet anything he'd make all these bad people stop trying hurt me." Tails forced himself not to cry as he continued to run. He was cold and his body was plum tired from all this physical activity not to mention the stress of being put on the spot in a situation like this.

"Come on Tails… you can't be sad now… focus on what you're doing." He tried to stay calm and force himself to realize the importance of his newest mission.

Hang Nail had been bullying Tails for as long as he could remember. Ever since the mean lady in charge of the scary and musty orphanage kicked him out Hang Nail and his two bully friends Slips and Silt took it upon themselves to enforce Bear Mayor's awful law that imperfection was a crime.

Whenever Tails complained after being kicked, ridiculed, and blamed for basically everything that went wrong around an area he had just arrived at everyone would say that Tails was lucky because he hadn't been killed like all the other imperfect ones.

Tails never considered himself lucky because he always wished to die. He began to believe that it truly was a crime to have an extra tail. He wanted to die or at least learn to stop complaining.

It all changed when he met Sonic though. He showed him a side to life that Tails had never seen before. It was a bright side. Thanks to Sonic he was able to finally feel what it was like to actually sleep on a bed instead of watching other kids do it from the cold hard floor. He was finally able to eat a decent meal that was made from scratch and not thrown away by some ungrateful idiot. For the first time he felt cared for.

Even though Eggman's attack on the island was scary it wasn't all that bad considering he actually gained more from it then anyone else. It sort of made him feel guilty and he started to wonder if his happiness could only exist if others felt despair.

Tails suddenly stopped. What if it was true? After all the trouble he's putting Sonic through he just didn't know. He slowly began to start up again. He was happy that he had finally found a happy life. Sonic told him not to think negative and that's what he was determined to do. His life truly couldn't get any better so long as he had people who cared. It was a great feeling! Being loved was an amazing feeling! Tails started to chuckle with happiness until he was reminded of the person who was the exact opposite of Sonic and happiness.

Hang Nail.

Usually when he heard Hang Nail's name Tails would flinch and get scared. He'd usually go the opposite direction of which the name was uttered. However, for some reason, this time it got him to walk faster. This time instead of tears of fear came tears of anger and hate. Hang Nail was back! It was a fact that burned him up inside. Tails had FINALLY found peace and wouldn't you know it Hang Nail had to barge his way back into his life and try to take all that away again!

Tails felt tears stream down his angry face. His teeth gritted and his fists clenched as he walked faster. For the first time in his life he finally felt extreme malice towards another person. Before he took all the punishment Hang Nail gave him because he thought he deserved it. BUT NOW! Now he knew that was a false statement!

Tails was running now. He was more determined then ever before. He was angrier then ever before!

'_Hang Nail, Hang Nail, HANG NAIL, HANG NAIL!' _Tails shouted in his head as his speed increased.

"I'm NOT letting you steal my happiness away! I'm finally going to do it! I'm going to make you stay out of my life FOREVER! HANG NAIL!!" Tails shouted as he continued on toward Coordinates 000.

_Desert Region End Point_

"Hey stop struggling! It will all be over in a few hours! Once I find the two tailed freak I'll let you go… if I feel like it." Rasshu said while literally dragging Knuckles across the sand toward the Ice Region. It wasn't but a few meters away and the cold air was starting to become more noticeable.

Amy and Rouge were following of their own free will. Amy didn't fuss and agreed to follow Rasshu in silence. Rouge, being a G.U.N agent, was in the clear.

Knuckles however wouldn't give up. He had to get away and do what he came here to do. His body was weak and still healing after his battle with Igneous but he couldn't let up. The world was in danger and he didn't look forward to drifting through space when it was destroyed.

Rouge noticed how much he struggled and found herself admiring this guy even more. Such spirit wasn't seen very often by her especially when you've been hanging with Big, Froggy, and Smoky.

Knuckles continued to struggle and made a very daring move. He pushed his hands against the ground and launched himself up bringing Rasshu's hand with him. Rasshu was about to turn to see what Knuckles was doing but was kicked in the face by him as he swung over.

Rasshu immediately dropped Knuckles on instinct and jumped back. Knuckles slid across the ground and smirked. His plan worked.

Amy wanted to see if he was all right but the echidna warded her off with his outstretched palm, which signaled her to stop and go back.

"You've got a lot of nerve. Pissing off assassins isn't a smart hobby to have." Rasshu said drawing two long knifes, about half the size of swords, from the brown package on his back and readying himself.

"Heh. I wasn't taught many manners when growing up. However if I was I'm pretty sure they didn't matter when dealing with assassins." Knuckles chuckled struggling to raise his tired fists.

"Now that's just not true. You should always show your superiors respect. Especially the ones that don't hesitate to kill!" Rasshu responded seemingly disappearing after he did. The move took Knuckles by surprise. He didn't have time to react as Rasshu reappeared and kicked Knuckles in his jaw sending him flying.

"He's fast!" Knuckles said while he was flying backwards. He flipped himself over so that he landed in the sand and skidded a bit. When he looked ahead of him he saw that Rasshu was no longer there.

"Behind You!" Came the agent in question's voice. Knuckles didn't bother to look back. He knew better. Instead he jumped in the air as Rasshu knife sliced through the air.

"HA! Think a lucky move like that will save you!" Rasshu jumped up and kicked Knuckles into the ground again. About a second after he did he reappeared in front of Knuckles. He tried to take another slice at Knuckles with his knifes but the echidna quickly recovered and jumped backward.

He continued to jump backward and stopped to hold out his foot just as Rasshu's Knife was about to pierce him again. The knife struck the sole on Knuckles' prepared and hard shoe.

_'Damn he's fast! How'd he get behind me so quickly!'_

"AH I see your reflexes are amazing! Sadly they're a minimal threat considering your condition." Rasshu pushed Knuckles back with his knife and charged at him with blazing speed.

Knuckles braced himself and saw the first swipe come at him. He dodged and saw the next one coming as well. He kept dodging and ducking hoping he'd eventually find an opening for an attack.

After about two minutes of this Rasshu was getting bored and decided he wanted this to end quicker. Rasshu had disappeared soon after his decision.

"Aww great now where'd he go?!" Knuckles looked around for about two seconds when Rasshu suddenly appeared below Knuckles with his foot pulled back. Knuckles gasped and looked down only to receive an in-your-face response.

"Too late!" Rasshu said as he extended his foot and kicked Knuckles' jaw sending him into the air. Rasshu disappeared yet again and reappeared behind Knuckles with his knife pulled back.

"D-darn it." Knuckles couldn't do anything in this position. He was screwed.

"This was fun but it's time I ended it. If you've been in the same room with Hato as many times as I have you'd understand." Rasshu said as he was about to slice Knuckles head off when something neither of them expected to happen happened.

"SCREW KICK!" Came a battle cry from below. Rouge was spinning madly toward Rasshu to fast for him to counter. He was hit square in the nose by the bat. Rasshu's knife fell, as did Knuckles.

"Hang on I'm not done with you yet!" Rouge pushed back Rasshu's face with her hand while they were still air born and kicked him in his chest over and over again. She then pulled back her leg and slammed it against Rasshu's stomach. The assassin fell to the sand and was met with yet another kick, this time it was delivered by both feet and it was focused directly in the middle of Rasshu's stomach.

The impact caused Rasshu to cough up a tremendous amount of blood before falling back unconscious.

Rouge got off him and sighed heavily.

"The best attacks are the unexpected ones. Right Knuckie!" Rouge looked up only to see that both Amy and Knuckles had run ahead without her. She turned and saw the both of them already in the Ice Region.

"Hey! How 'bout a thank you! Ungrateful punk!" Rouge shouted angrily.

Knuckles stopped in mid sprint and turned to shout.

"THANK YOU… YOU CREEPY BAT GIRL!" He then turned and continued to run, a satisfied smirk on his face.

Rouge fumed long after he was out of earshot but then calmed down to soon find herself laughing.

"Oh well, can't help who you have a crush on." She then silently goes into the Ice Region as well.

_Ice Region End of starting point_

"Your punches are weak!" Mardo remarked as him and Vector kept at their punching barrage.

"Your red hair is red!" Vector shouted back.

"Your skin is green!"

"You're round!"

"You have a long nose!"

"You're a retard!"

"I'M a retard!"

"RAAAAH!"

"RAAAAH!"

They eventually toppled backward and broke through a stump of ice. Vector was now on top of Mardo, which really wasn't a pleasant place to be. Mardo, however, quickly ended their little get together by ramming his feet into Vector's stomach and rocketing him in the air. Without missing a beat he got on to his feet and jumped up again.

Vector saw him coming but there was nothing he could do as Mardo head butted Vector in his stomach. He then literally jumped on the air at an amazing speed until he was over Vector again. This time he slammed his feet against the crocodile's back.

Vector shouted in pain as he remembered being stabbed there earlier. He didn't have much time to think as he fell into the snow on his stomach. Before he could get up Mardo's knee impacted Vector's back even harder then the kick before it.

Vector shouted in agony again which caught Sonic's attention. Since the hedgehog was still fighting countless soldiers when he stopped to look at Vector a bullet nicked his arm. He quickly put his hand on the burning spot on his arm out of instinct but quickly remembered to continue fighting.

Vector continued to shout and squirm as Mardo showed zero signs of letting up.

"Does it hurt weak punching lizard guy!" Mardo said as he switched knees and impacted Vector already injured back again. Vector's shout grew louder but Sonic wasn't in any position to help.

Vector eventually had all he could take and flung his tail backward hard enough to knock Mardo off of him. Vector quickly got up and Mardo quickly repositioned himself in front of Vector almost as soon as he was knocked off.

They stood there both breathing heavily until Mardo began his own little method of calming down. He closed his eyes and put his hands together. Vector didn't know what he was doing but then again he honestly didn't care. That is until Mardo started to glow a bright green color.

Eventually the green light shaped itself into that of a sphere, which was basically Mardo's shape anyway. Vector looked in front of him and saw that the roly-poly retard in front of him was now a ball of green light.

"What is this?"

"ATTACK!" Came a shout from the sphere. A second later it shot straight at Vector with amazing speed. Vector freaked out and dodged to the left barely making it. The light quickly turned around and shot at him again.

"Damn it!" Vector dodged again and again until he looked like he was a pinball dodging another pinball all across the snow.

"Try to hit me now ugly crocy!"

Vector was annoyed with this guy's voice but he had to focus on getting out of the situation alive before anything else. He dodged in all directions but it seemed like the more he dodged the faster the light was.

Suddenly and without warning Vector was hit head on by the ball of light. It stung A LOT more then he thought. Their was so much force in the impact that Vector was flung in the air while Mardo didn't even know if he reached Vector or not.

Vector hit the snow like a comet. The light circled around the area waiting for Vector to emerge. What made waiting unbearable for Mardo was that he didn't know when he was going to pop out.

'_Man that stings! Can't risk being hit by another one of those again. I'm going to have to fight back though and that might require hitting it.'_ Vector squinted his eyes in pain. He honestly never thought he would be risking his life for some kid, especially not like this. However, he wasn't running away. A guy this annoying deserved to have his face bashed in.

"Guess that clinches it!" The crocodile said while jumping out of the snow and was once again Mardo's big green target. The light immediately shot straight at him and of coarse Vector dodged.

The process repeated the same as before except this time Vector was actually trying to find an opportunity to attack.

Soon Vector found a spot where he thought would be safe enough and far enough to get ready for an attack. He pulled back his mouth and spit fire into his hands. His fist was now a blaze as Mardo closed in on him.

"Here I go!" Vector shouted as he punched the incoming light. It stopped Mardo in his destructive path. For the first few seconds it seemed to work. However, Vector's punch started to emit smoke and that signaled to Vector that the fire in his punch was letting out. It wasn't long before his punch gave way and Vector had to dive backward to avoid taking Mardo's hit head on.

The crocodile slowly stood up while holding his arm. It burned like hell! He still had no intention of letting up though.

"Well if one fist won't work two fists…"

WHAM!!

Vector was hit clear across the face by Mardo and his burning green light. Vector fell to the ground and basically lied there in a smoking heap. His face was bleeding and he was trying desperately to focus his vision. The way his vision went in all directions bugged him. This needed to end.

"This guy's hits are getting harder and their starting to burn which means the more he flies around like that the faster he goes. I've got to trick him into stopping!" Vector said forcing his tired body up. Seeing Mardo blast around like a pinball was nothing short of vein throbbing. This needed to end, NOW!

Mardo saw Vector get up through his light and shot towards him again.

"You shouldn't have been talking out loud croc dude guy thing! Now me won't let you stop me by stopping me who is me!"

"Yeah we'll see about that you retarded red exercise ball." Vector pulled back his mouth and shot fire at both his hands. They were much bigger than before and they looked like they could take up Vector's arms. The crocodile then pulled back again and waited for Mardo to get closer.

"You won't stop me croc!"

"You know what… YOU REALLY NEED TO SHUT THE HELL UP!"

"Never stop me! NEVER! YOU'LL NEVER…"

Vector shot his fire out at the ball of green light that was Mardo and stopped him right as his attack was about to connect.

"Oi, he stopped me." Mardo said in a confused voice. Vector quickly jumped over Mardo and made his way across the snow. As soon as Vector did the fire released itself and Mardo was free.

"HA! You stupid! You stopped me but didn't uhhhhh stop me! AAAAACHOOO!!"

"Sorry you're disappointed but everything my plan consisted of worked… well it worked so far. Since I stopped you you're going to have to start up again at your average speed and since I'm stopped as well, this time with my hands a blaze, we can both attack, hit, and find out whose stronger."

"Your words are gritty and tasteless. I'm bored. AAAACHOOO! I'll end it now! Thank You!"

Vector raised his fists and one leg so he was hopping on one foot. Mardo charged up again and shot himself forward. At nearly the same time Vector pulled back his fists then as Mardo closed in on him he shot them forward.

The streaks of heat quickly passed by as Vector's flaming fists connected with the ball of light that was Mardo. Vector pushed his fists forward as hard as he could as Mardo kept trying to break through them.

"Your punches are weak and they're not as hot as mine! HA!" Mardo teased. Vector only gritted his teeth harder.

"Your right… my fists aren't as hot as yours… they're hotter! MUCH HOTTER!" Vector's power seemed to skyrocket after he said that as Mardo's force started to become unnoticeable. His green light started to fade and Vector's punches started to take their effect on Mardo.

"W-what? Don't understand the thing going on in front of me by him too me now!"

"I'm kicking your ass! That's what's happening to you _now_!" Vector shouted as his fists connected to Mardo's now exposed stomach. It hit him so hard that Mardo's eyes looked like they were about to burst out of their sockets. Vector put his leg down and pushed forward again sending Mardo flying across the snow and crashing into the last few soldiers Sonic was taking care of.

He continued to fly until he crashed into an icy rock and stayed stuck there. He was unconscious now and Vector couldn't be happier. The crocodile picked his limp body up and walked over to Sonic who was also satisfied with the results of the attack.

"Well shall we go?" Sonic asked with a grin that told Vector he was high in spirits. The crocodile chuckled and faced the direction Smoke ran off in.

"Yes, let us boldly go." Vector boasted sarcastically as he and Sonic ran off.

_Ice Region Near Ending Point_

Espio set Shimon and Charmy down next to each other in their nice warm cave. He made sure they were as comfortable as any person could possibly be in a small cave with a diminishing fire located in the middle of an icy region with no signs of food of life for miles.

"Oh well, could be worse. We could've been forced to survive on lima beans for the rest of our lives." Espio said while sighing. He was only 12-years-old! He shouldn't be given so much responsibility. Usually when 12 year olds are left in charge of two kids things didn't work out so well.

"Well, I'm pretty level-headed… but then again I've been living with Vector for almost my whole life so maybe my level-headedness is just imaginary." The chameleon moaped completely sure of one thing. This whole ugly ordeal sure wasn't imaginary.

Espio looked down at Shimon and Charmy cuddled up to each other sleeping soundly. Both kids were in a bad condition and Espio wasn't sure how long they'd sleep like that.

Unbeknownst to him, Big the cat and Froggy were still hiding behind a rock that was outside their cave looking in.

"What are we gonna do Froggy? We're stuck here and Smoke is no where to be seen."

"Ribbit!" Froggy shouted now out from behind the rock. Big freaked and almost pulled Froggy back behind it so Espio wouldn't see them but he stopped when he realized whom Froggy was croaking at.

"Hey that's Smokestack!" Big shouted as the commander ran past the cave and Big not knowing that people were around. Espio managed to pick up what Big said and decided to poke his head outside of the cave.

"That's that same G.U.N agent we met back in Future City! Which means his soldiers can't be far behind!" Espio said while starting to sweat, which seemed almost impossible in such cold weather.

Big picked up Froggy and quickly ran after Smoke. He didn't know whether or not he'd catch up to the determined commander but he had to try at least.

Espio stood there pondering what to do when he felt something tugging his arm. Espio looked down and saw little Charmy rubbing his eyes still dazed from just waking up.

"Espo, why you not sleeping?" Charmy asked as he began to yawn.

"… I tried but…"

"You sad?"

"… No… just worried." Espio looked at Charmy and the sleeping Shimon and made his decision. "We've gotta keep moving."

"Really? Why?"

"It's not safe here." Espio bent down. "Here, get on my back."

Charmy didn't hesitate to climb on the chameleon's warm back. When he was on Espio walked over and picked up Shimon with his hands and headed out of the cave.

"Hopefully we can get far enough to make it out of the Ice Region so I can finally leave the rest to that little fox kid." Espio said almost chuckling to himself. It was amazing how he was relying on a kid 8 years younger then him to save us all.

"Maybe miracles happen a lot more often then I thought they did. I guess that's good news."

_Coodinates 000 starting point_

Buru, Shoui, and all their troops landed in Coordinates 000 a while ago. The place was dark and musty. It looked like an abandoned maze filled with old empty buildings and carriages.

"It looks like that one place I went to on a reconnaissance mission one time. What was it called again? Oh yes, Hang Castle!" Buru shouted.

The entire area was basically how Buru thought it would be. It was filled with bleached skeletons and dried blood stained all the walls. In the distance was the most alarming thing either of them had ever seen.

"Is that a castle?" Shoui asked clearly able to see one in the distance. It wasn't any regular castle however. It was HUGE! Saying it was huge was probably an understatement though.

Another thing that was creepy was that the castle was glowing a dark purple color. Just by looking at it Shoui and Buru knew that the castle was where they needed to be.

"How far is it?" Shoui asked. Buru took out a pair of abnormal goggles and directed them at the castle. After a few beeps from it Buru almost dropped the goggles out of shock.

"Well… how far is it?" Shoui asked getting impatient.

"It's… well let's put it this way… it literally should be at the end of the next STATE!"

"… The next state…? It's that far away? But I can see it so clearly! Is it that big?"

"Apparently so. It will be a long journey ahead and to make thing worse Dr. Eggman and his men have already arrived here. They're probably on their way to the castle as we speak. We need to reach that castle before he does!"

"Why is that?"

"It's got something to do with the legend. The kitsune and that castle are closely related in the grand scheme of things. I've heard about this legend once before but there is no time to go into it. We've got to get there first. Round up all the troops and tell them we're heading out." Buru ordered while Shoui nodded and headed off.

"Doctor… where are you?"

_Another part of Coordinates 000_

"What's the word up there you two!"

It was an incoming call to Bocoe and Decoe from Dr. Eggman. The doctor sounded majorly pissed as usual.

"Something the matter doctor?" Decoe said while hogging the communicator. Bocoe was desperately trying to get a hold of it, which caused Decoe to shake the communicator causing Eggman's view of the robots' to shake up… which caused Eggman to get even MORE pissed.

"Stop that infernal shaking and listen!" Eggman shouted causing them both to almost drop the small device. They refocused it so both of them showed up on screen.

"Can we be of service?" They both said in unison. Eggman sighed and continued.

"I've been using my devices to track down the G.U.N geeks. My calculations report that their in Coordinates 000 and my fleet of robots is no where to be seen! They were supposed to be back at the Green Hill Region but…"

"They're with us." They both said in a quick informative manner.

"… WHAT!!"

"Their here in Coordinates 000 with us!" Bocoe said again.

"We knew you were traveling alone from the last time we communicated with you so we used the fleet's teleport function to bring them here." Decoe said in a cheery voice.

"…"

"Wasn't that smart of us." Bocoe asked cheery as well.

"YOU IDIOTS!!"

"Huh?"

"You could've told me that you going to do teleport there! Or you could've at least left one behind so that I could teleport there and gain control of my fleet so we could destroy those troublesome G.U.N people!"

"… Oh yeah… that's… something we could've done." Decoe said while pondering.

"But doesn't your Eggmobile have a teleport function?" Bocoe asked.

"… If it did then I'd BE THERE ALREADY! Now stop asking stupid questions! I need to figure out how to regain control of my fleet and take command before G.U.N reaches you. My scanners show that they aren't far from you, now that I know their location, and since that place is basically a giant maze of buildings there is no telling when you'll meet up."

"Wait a minute doctor! I have a brilliant idea! Why don't you let us command the troops? We can take G.U.N!" Bocoe suggested.

"I thought I already told you why in the planning room. It's because I'm smarter then the average bear!"

"What average bear?" Decoe asked.

"You no what? Screw it! Take control of the fleet if you want! It doesn't take much brains to say 'kill them' to a bunch of fighter robots anyway." Eggman said clearly giving up.

"Is that a yes?"

"Yes."

"Yes to what? Yes to our question or yes it's a yes?"

"The first yes!"

"Which yes was that?"

"The yes from before!"

"Was that 8 yes's ago or 9. I guess now it would be 11 yes's. No 12." said Bocoe

"It's 12." said Decoe

"BOCOE! DECOE!"

"YES!!"

"ARRRGH!! JUST GET MOVING!!" Eggman shouted then cut off communication with them. Decoe turned to Bocoe and asked.

"Wouldn't saying 'Yes it's a yes' be the same as the first yes?"

"Yes! I think… no wait… gimmie a minute…" Was Bocoe's _brilliant_ answer.

_Ice Region Ending point_

Hato's army had been completely obliterated. They were all dead. Every last one of them killed with just one quick motion of Darkness' hand. It was the likes of which Hato had never seen. Could such a monster exist?

Hato and his men had been able to catch up to Darkness easily. Once they did he had them surround him and detain him. However Darkness simply didn't care. He doesn't care about much.

All he did was wave his hand and this thick black smoke flowed outward and passed by all the soldiers. It didn't look like it did anything until they all started to mystically blow holes in their chests. They were all scared when they realized what was happening and a few tried to run but it was too late. Apparently when the shadows passed by you were doomed to a painful and gruesome death.

Hato faced the maniac in front of him with an enormous amount of considerable regret. Was he scared? No. He hasn't been afraid since he was 3-years-old. It was the age when he realized fear didn't have to be an issue if you were the one causing it.

However, there was something about this cloaked deity that caused Hato a disgusting amount of discomfort. He was actually considering whether or not to try and kill him. That's also something he's never done before.

"You're drawing up the best strategy you can to try and kill me. Do you think you can do it?" Darkness stood there with his hands by his side. His remark angered Hato but he didn't show it.

"Of coarse I do. I'm an assassin that works for the seventh unit of the G.U.N. It would be against my jurisdiction not to kill such a dangerous person."

"Spare me your excuses. I saw your little explosion back there. You kill for yourself not the government. To be honest I respect you more for making something you enjoy doing for yourself your jurisdiction in your pathetic army. It shows that you're independent and not a government dog like those other insects I killed so easily."

"I assure you that I'm no insect. It would take more then you to rid me and my ambition from the planet."

"Now didn't that sound a bit too rehearsed? I take it this isn't the first time someone has called you and your troops by the name of insect?"

"It's all the same. Me and my ambition will not be destroyed."

"You? Yes. Your ambition? No. As long as there are people who continue living the way you do now their will always be someone with an ambition to needlessly kill. The way I see it the only non-barbaric way of killing is if your intention is to kill everyone and everything then restart from scratch, which is what I intend to do. Using the power I'm so dangerously close to getting and the seeds I had Metal Sonic plant on other planets using Eggman's contraption it's possible."

"What? Are you crazy? How would that work?"

"I'm not going to waste my time telling a dead man my plan. Doing so would actually make me look crazy. Imagine! Me! Crazy? HAHAHAHAHA!!"

Hato flinched. This man was… just plain creepy. There were few, if any, things Hato had seen in his life that he considered creepy but this… was just too abnormal.

"Enough of your idiotic banter. I need you dead."

Hato didn't see it but Darkness' ears perked up.

Hato quickly charged at Darkness with his fingers now a dark purple color. He jumped up and intended to jab Darkness with his two fingers but Darkness simply slid to the side and let the blast that flew out of his fingers impale the snow.

"Oh… so that's your power? You can't see it but the expression on my face is that of anger. I didn't sit well with what you just said so I'll give you 20 seconds to run before I use the unnecessary method I use to kill people. _When_ you can't get away I promise to kill you so you won't feel a thing." The way he spoke was silent and sort of scary.

"What?"

"Run and you won't feel anything when I kill you. Fight and you die the painful way."

Hato couldn't believe this. How dare this man talk to him as if he was his superior! No one does that and lives, absolutely no one!

"Like hell!" Hato said lifting his now glowing violet leg and successfully kicking Darkness across his body. It literally sliced him in half but Darkness quickly reformed a few feet away from the angry commander.

"I won't attack. You have 15 seconds left."

"Shut the hell up!" Hato kicked across the air and landed a huge blast at Darkness. He quickly jumped over it and landed perfectly.

_'I don't understand! These kicks fly to fast to dodge!'_ Hato was confused. He then started to deliver numerous dark violet colored punches across the air. They all materialized into blasts of fast and enormous power and speed toward Darkness without signs of letting up.

Darkness simply jumped and flipped through the air to avoid them all. Hato kept firing not knowing what was going on beyond all the flying smoke. He soon found out when Darkness spoke up again.

"3 seconds."

"Damn you! I decide who lives and who dies! Not you! ME!"

Suddenly Darkness landed right in front of Hato. The commander stopped immediately and backed away.

"Actually you don't. You just think you do… our rather, judging by the look on your face, you _thought _you did."

Hato couldn't believe this. All his attacks failed. No one could've seen them coming. No one with eyes at all could see them coming. He was frustrated and his hands and eyes were twitching.

"Your time has expired and you didn't run. I guess we do it the painful way."

"No damnit! Screw you!"

Darkness swiftly grabbed Hato's hand and twisted it back. He yelped in pain as Darkness leaned forward to speak.

"How dare low-life scum like you refer to my plans as idiotic banter."

"… Your plans? Your plans! How?! How is what I'm doing any different from your twisted _plans_!"

It suddenly went silent. Darkness had nothing more to say to this man and Hato was simply speechless. It only took one second but in that second Darkness somehow struck his hand straight through Hato's stomach. It was sticking out of his back all balled into a bloody fist.

Hato went limp and Darkness took his hand out of the corpse's body. He let it drop and continued walking.

"Normally I would've taken a souvenir from your body but I want to let the Earth swallow your corpse up and reuse it so that the planet can be fused with the very scum it tried to get me to accept. Have fun doing your little dance in Hell."

_Coordinates 000 starting point_

Hang Nail sat on his little rock that overlooked the numerous amounts of buildings behind him. He was starting to get bored. Had Shimon died? It was possible. A kid dressed the way he was wouldn't be able to last very long in the Ice Region.

Suddenly he heard footsteps approaching. He wasn't looking up so he couldn't see who it was but by the way they were clomping their feet it was someone who was very angry.

"It's probably the doctor. He's prob'ly pissed dat I took his fleet and den left it. Heh Heh. It sort of serves him right." Hang Nail chuckled then listened to the feet again. They were clomping angrily but they were much softer feet then Eggman's.

Could it be?

Hang Nail looked up and his eyes gleamed with satisfaction. He finally made it.

"Hey there. If it ain't my ol' friend. Homeless two tail!"

It was in fact Tails. The four-year-old stood in front of his now half mechanical bully with a very serious look on his face.

"What's with that fake bravery look. I don't like it. Why don't you come here so I can't scratch you up like I used to. You remember that don't you?"

Tails started to walk over to Hang Nail.

"That's right. That's a good little wimp. Obeying you superior like always. Let's get this over with so I can go back to being commander. Of coarse I don't want this to be too quick. After all it was always fun beating the tar outta-"

Hang Nail didn't get to finish his sentence. Tails had made it over to Hang Nail while he was talking and the first thing he did was end their contract as wimp vs. bully.

He did this by punching Hang Nail across the face while he was in mid-sentence. The surprised jaguar fell off his rock and hit the ground with a thud. Tails let his fist drop while Hang Nail quickly grabbed at his cheek.

"Two Tail… did… did you just…?"

"YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW LONG I'VE WANTED TO DO THAT YOU BULLY!" Tails shouted as he stood there with both hands by his side and his angry eyes focused on the bully.

Hang Nail was more then shocked. Who was this? It sure wasn't two tail! Hang Nail tasted something funny in his mouth. It didn't take long to place the taste.

"Why you… you little punk… you… actually made my mouth bleed! You know better than that!"

"Shut up!"

"What did you say to me!?"

"I'm done being your punching bag! I promise Hang Nail by the end of this you'll forever take on my horrible past role as wimpy little cry baby you jerk!"

It was silent again. It was tense once more. It was time to begin the rematch.

_Finally done! I love this story! Review please and tell me how you all like it. I'll update as soon as I can!_


	34. Chapter 34

_I want to thank everyone for all their support during the coarse of this story. It makes me feel great that so many people enjoy what I'm writing so much. Here's the next chapter! Read and Review please!_

**Chapter 34: Surpass the Surudoi Assault**

"Me? A crybaby? Oh dear! I think someone's a little confused!" Hang Nail taunted.

Tails, his moment of hyped up anger swelling up and down, let his body relax as Hang Nail spoke.

"Just like ol' times… ain't it two tail." Hang Nail stood there with a friendly grin on his face. Despite how friendly it looked Tails could easily see it for the façade that it was. That's what literally being bullied by this kid half your life would do to you.

Usually Tails would've answered Hang Nail with a hint of obvious fear in his voice. Knowing full well that the fear would still be there if he spoke Tails decided to stay quiet. However, a small bead of sweat did make its way down his face as he held his comment in.

"Something wrong… you came all this way with no one to talk too so I assumed you'd have something to say…" Hang Nail said while crossing his arms.

"…I…" Tails quickly shut his mouth. Responding to him just seemed weak to him for some reason. He didn't want to seem weak at all.

"That's right. No matter how many times we met back on the island you always had someth'n to say. Whether it be someth'n wimpish like 'Pwease stop be'n mean to me' or the ever popular 'What did I do this time?' HAHAH! As if we needed a reason to wail on you kid."

Tails was getting uncomfortable just standing there and taking all these insults. Tails had seen people insult Sonic before and the hedgehog was easily able to say something ego-piercing in retaliation. Why couldn't he be like his big brother?

Hang Nail noticed Tails' uncomfortable face. It amused him to know end seeing the fox try an act brave and witty. He knew full well about how smart Tails was. However, becoming apart of Eggman's crew had allowed him to learn more about the fox then he thought he'd ever have to know.

Just like all of Eggman's other commander's Hang Nail was given a little device to help with his fight against the demon inside the fox.

Right now though Hang Nail was more focused on getting the fox to submit to his taunts.

"It was fun back on the island wasn't it? You, Slips, Silt, and me would all just hang out and have fun. Remember all the pranks we pulled on you?" Hang Nail said while putting his hands on his hips and grinning with a friendly look on his face.

Tails cringed when he heard the word 'prank'. The amount of pranks Hang Nail pulled on the fox was just ridiculous. Tails didn't want to think of them but Hang Nail kept pouring them out of his mouth, which forced him to relive every incident in his mind.

"There was that time we held you down on this table, brought you to the park where there were a whole bunch of other kids, and just paddled your little rump until you cried like a little baby. We then got all the other kids to pay us five dollars each if they wanted to paddle you too."

Tails winced and unconsciously rubbed his bottom.

"There was also the time when we offered you a milkshake that was really just a bunch of mushed worms and sour cream."

Tails almost felt like throwing up all over again.

"Oh! Then there was that priceless joke we played when we put you in a diaper while you slept, strapped you in a stroller, and rolled you around town. HAHA! And when you woke up you were so surprised you freakin wet yourself! HAHAHAH!"

Tails was blushing so much right now. He never thought his hate for Hang Nail would reach this point but he wanted to kill him so much! He really wanted to kill him and then not feel guilty afterwards. However, Tails knew there was no way he could kill a person and not feel guilty afterwards.

However, Tails was dangerously reaching the point where he didn't care how he felt after this fight.

He was getting angrier and angrier at each word the jaguar spoke. He had humiliated him so many times in the past and he was trying to take his new happy life away so he could do it again! It was maddening!

"HAHAHAH! You really were such a big baby! And you still are! Look at you standing there taking everything I say! I have to admit I was surprised that you actually punched me but considering how it didn't hurt that much it told me that not much happened while you we away."

"Y-your wrong!" Tails said finally speaking up. The guy needed to be set straight!

"I'm wrong? Really? Yeah right! Nothing's changed! I'm still the superior and you're the wimpy baby who got lucky. The only difference is that I'm half metal and you've got something important inside of you! I still see you for who you really are! You should've killed yourself back when I told you to. Now it's too late and you're gonna face my metal claws!"

Tails clenched his fists and let a few tears roll down his face. He desperately wanted Hang Nail to be quiet.

"…No… it's not true… I'm not taking anymore of this from you!" Tails was letting what Hang Nail said get to him. He thought he wasn't but he was and he didn't even notice.

It should've come to Tails that he was doing something wrong when he charged at Hang Nail in blind rage and the jaguar didn't flinch or move from where he was standing. However, Tails was just too angered to care. To him Hang Nail wasn't his bully, or a jaguar, or one of Eggman's commander's. To him in his fit of rage Hang Nail was just a huge TARGET!

Tails realized he was close enough to Hang Nail to land another punch. He wasn't about to miss any opportunity to hurt Hang Nail at this point.

Tails brought his fist forward but it stopped short as the jaguar's knee impaled him in his stomach. Tails was stunned and he simply looked out into space as the pain caught up with him and blood dripped out of his mouth. Hang Nail pulled back his fist and then slammed it against Tails' cheek, which sent him spiraling to the ground.

Hang Nail didn't waste anytime laughing at the fox as he saw him in his familiar position as a smoking heap of pain lying in the dirt. Tails lifted his head slowly with a look of regret on his face. He had gotten punched by Hang Nail before but this punch was different… in a negative sort of way.

Usually after Tails was hit by Hang Nail he'd always want to curl up in a nice warm ball and never come out. Even now that feeling stay.

"It's fun messing with your head. The way you just charged at me like that was so funny and stupid. I thought you were smarter then that two-tail."

Tails stood up as quick as he could. He made sure his vision refocused on Hang Nail even quicker.

"You jerk! I won't let you win!"

"You don't have much of a choice two-tail! See, while you may be fast and have a freaky alter-ego inside of you I've got a device to suck up your kitsune energy and use it myself."

"Wh-what? J-just like Karst?"

"And as for your speed… well thanks too my robotic feet that ain't much of a problem. Is it?"

"I'm still fast enough to keep up with you!" Tails said trying to reassure Hang Nail that he wasn't as weak as he was making him out to be.

"Yeah or run away from me!"

"I'm not running from you anymore!"

"Oh really!" Hang Nail said letting his metal feet glow bright red. Tails wondered what that meant but got his answer when Hang Nail shot forward like a rocket literally leaving two trails of smoke in his wake. He landed right in front of Tails so fast that the fox was caught off guard and stumbled backwards.

"Oh no you don't! It's too late to run away!"

"I wasn't-" Tails began before Hang Nail grabbed the fox's head and slammed it against the ground. The fox was struggling to get away from his grasp but Hang Nail kept pushing his face in the dirt.

"Why are you struggling? Ain't this your favorite food? I've seen you eat it so much back on the island!"

Tails kept struggling until he eventually brought his leg around and kicked Hang Nail's hand away.

"You've become too feisty two-tail. I might have to kill you quicker then I thought!" Hang Nail grabbed Tails by the neck and lifted him up. "What should I do first?"

Without warning Tails spit out a mouth full of both dry and wet dirt straight into Hang Nail's confident eyes. The jaguar quickly let Tails go and started to rub his eyes vigorously.

"ARRGH! DAMNIT! You'll pay for that!"

Tails jumped back a few and tried to get into his best battle stance. Hang Nail continued rubbing for a few more seconds, which Tails quickly took to his advantage.

When Hang Nail stopped rubbing he was almost immediately met with more eye pain as Tails kicked him where he was sure the jaguar's pupils were. He stumbled backward with his hands over his eyes and shouting in pain. Tails jumped toward Hang Nail to land another blow but the bully grabbed him before he could connect with another kick.

He tossed Tails hard against the ground and wiped his eyes as fast as he could before turning back to him. His eyes were slightly red and they complimented how angry Hang Nail looked.

"Stop trying to switch roles two-tail. I'm the bully and you're the wimp! You damn well better remember that!"

Tails just stood up and looked at Hang Nail in his watery red eyes with a look that showed that he was serious.

"It's kinda sad when a four-year-old kid proves he's more grown up then someone 9 years older then him!"

"What did you say to me? You're just a crybaby and I'm gonna prove it! I'll kill you!" Hang Nail held out his claws and they lit up with heat. Tails saw his metal claws heat up but didn't expect then to shoot out at him, which is exactly what happened.

The radiated claws shot out so fast that Tails couldn't see them coming. Five heated claws burned through his fur and pierced his skin. Tails shouted out in agony as he fell to the ground and hesitated to reach for the burning claws.

Hang Nail let his metal claws come back out of Tails' body and they came back into his finger sockets. Tails was shaking with pain as the scorching holes in his body started to bleed agonizingly slow.

"Let's go for another round shall we? Let's raise the temp a little bit okay?" Hang Nail said while firing his heated claws at Tails again. He didn't care where they hit as long as he hit two-tail.

The claws shot into Tails body a second time and Tails didn't even try to hold back his tears and cries of pain as the burning sensation continued to take affect. The way they shot in and then slid out was so horrifyingly awful that Tails didn't think he'd stand it.

Tails was in pain that was for sure. He was in even more pain when Hang Nail retracted them yet again. However at the same time he felt that Hang Nail was just toying with him. This, for some reason, angered Tails more then being hurt. Hang Nail stood there laughing at Tails for covering up the smoking holes in his body while Tails was submitting to one of Hang Nail's pathetic torture techniques.

"HAHAHAH! That's what I like to see. The wittle baby falling in front of me in fear and pain like he used ta! HAHAHAH!"

That was enough.

"You're the wimp, not me." The remark came from Tails' previously silent self.

"Huh? What was that?"

"I'm tired of you playing with me like this. I came here to fight you so we could end this bad relationship forever! I never want to see your face again after this! But I wanted to end this the way I saw those people do it on T.V when I snuck into other people's houses. You know, HONORABLY!"

"H-Honorably?"

"Yeah, and if you're just gonna play with me like a pin holder until I'm dead then I don't care about this stupid fight anymore. Just kill me already! Stop wasting my time!" Tails shouted not really sure of how much of his words he actually meant.

"Oh, I see! Not a fan of my slow and painful method eh? Fine! We'll do it the quick way… and painful!"

Without warning Hang Nail charged forward with three of his metal claws extended. They seemed to grow as he neared the fox. Tails saw this head on assault coming and dodged to the side as Hang Nail drew closer. He ended up missing his target but quickly brought his leg around and kicked Tails in the back.

Tails flew back as Hang Nail jumped forward and tried slashing the fox apart again. Tails grabbed Hang Nail's arm and tried to stop it. However, he wasn't strong enough and Hang Nail's claws struck his chest.

He bled even more then before but tried extremely hard to not let it get to him. Instead Tails took the claws out of his chest and tossed Hang Nail's hand aside. Tails then successfully punched Hang Nail across his face making him fall back into the dirt.

"HA! I got you ya bully!"

"So what? Celebrate when it actually means something!"

"I know what it means! It means that you're still playing with me! Stop it already! Fight like you mean it!"

"Why should I? I'm doing this so I can kill you in the most brutal and painful way imaginable. I made a promise after Slips and Silt were killed."

"You promised them? And now you're working for the guy who killed them!"

"Because of you!"

"You're just a mean stupid bully whose blaming me for everything you don't like! It's not my fault that they died! It was the eggy man guy's fault!"

"I don't care. It's you I want to kill. Why should someone as messed up as you live anyway? You're a freak! You've got two-tails! You're a nerd! And you've got a dorky name. Miles was it? HAHAHAH!"

This comment angered Tails which caused him to really let Hang Nail have it. He gulped before doing this but felt like he was ready for the consequences.

"My name… Miles… it's… it proves my parents respected what happened to me more than you as I grew up… because…"

"Because what?" Hang Nail asked still chuckling.

"Because… at least… at least my real name… is better than yours! Prissy!"

"…"

Tails knew what his silence meant. He recalled his first fight with Hang Nail back on the island. After Tails had gotten too cocky and called Hang Nail by his really humiliating first name the jaguar flipped out and unleashed his full power. This time Tails had said it to get him to fight seriously. He knew it had worked when he saw the throbbing vein on Hang Nail head almost burst.

"… I would've thought… you'd of learned from last time two-tail… what it means… TO CALL ME THAT!!"

"… Y-Yeah… I-I did it to get you to fight me seriously…"

"I guess you were serious then…! FINE! YOU WANTED IT? YOU'VE GOT IT!" Hang Nail flung his claws to the side and blasted himself at Tails.

Tails was sweating really hard and he was contemplating whether or not he had gone insane. Why should he care whether or not Hang Nail took the fight seriously? All that mattered was that he lived right?

_'No! That isn't true! I want Hang Nail to fight me at his best so I can finally prove him wrong!'_

"NO MORE MERCY!" Hang Nail said as he charged.

_'I want to prove that he was wrong about what he said…"_

Hang Nail jumped toward Tails.

_'I want to prove that I'm NOT worthless.'_

As the jaguar's claws got closer Tails' curled his hands into a fist and brought it forward too. However it didn't connect as Hang Nail suddenly disappeared.

Tails stood there wondering for a second before his senses told him where he'd gone. It was too late though and Hang Nail slashed at Tails from behind. Three gashes appeared on Tails back as he fell forward in pain.

Hang Nail chuckled as Tails cried in pain and blood dripped down his back. Hang Nail quickly made clear that he wasn't done when he took another swipe at Tails. The fox saw this one coming and jumped in time to dodge it. Hang Nail jumped as well and kicked Tails across his face.

Tails twirled to the ground where Hang Nail quickly made his way too. He ended up behind Tails and caught him with his arm around the fox's neck before he connected with the ground.

"Now I'll slice your head off while you can't move!" He said satisfied. Tails struggled to get free with his arms for a while until he finally decided what to do. He bit Hang Nail's non-mechanical arm so hard that it bleed. Hang Nail reacted as expected and let go. Much to Tails' dismay Hang Nail punched the fox across the face for what he did immediately after.

Tails hit the ground in pain. He wasn't exactly sure how much he was bleeding but he knew it had to be a lot. What's worse is that Hang Nail recovered quicker then he would have hoped and charged with his claws.

Tails would've turned to run except he knew Hang Nail was fast and if he turned around he'd get another slash across his back. Hang Nail got closer to Tails and slashed at him. Tails was quick enough to be able to jump backward.

Hang Nail kept slashing while Tails kept jumping back. Eventually Hang Nail's metal feet gave him an extra boost and allowed him to slice Tails' cheek. Tails winced but knew he couldn't do anything about it. Hang Nail's slices kept connecting more and more. Eventually the jaguar landed a huge slash across Tails' stomach.

He screamed in tremendous pain, which gave Hang Nail time to slash him again. This time it was across his face. The gash on his cheek became bigger and he flew backward until his already injured back collided with one of the rundown buildings surrounding the area.

As soon as his back hit the wall Tails let out a blood curtailing scream and let himself drop to the ground.

Hang Nail landed on his feet and stood up straight. He stared at the bloody heap that was Tails and spat at the ground. He was expecting spit but it turned out to be blood, which made him mad.

"See! DO YA SEE NOW! HUH?!" He shouted to the unresponsive fox.

"See what happens when you screw with your superiors! You were better off acting like the homeless two-tailed loser you always were! This brave and warrior type attitude don't suit ya! I told you that and you wouldn't listen! Now your dead!"

Tails still didn't respond.

Hang Nail clenched his fists looking disappointed. He wanted a much better rematch. Hang Nail expected that Tails would die fast but he still hoped it would've lasted a bit longer.

The jaguar looked at the bloodstained wall Tails' back had hit then smiled.

"At least I kept my word on the fact that his death would be gruesome!" Hang Nail chuckled then licked the blood off his metal claws. "Now there's only one more promise to keep. Time to carve the fox's heart out!"

Hang Nail briskly approached Tails' body with a grin on his face. Seeing Tails lying there like that reminded him of his past life on Westside Island. It sure was fun. Too bad Tails had to screw it up!

Hang Nail reached down to touch the fox but then stopped when he felt something odd. It was a huge pulsating feeling. Soon purple lightning pulsed around the fox's body. It shocked his hand so hard he pulled back.

"Wh-what? Y-you're…"

Tails' body fluctuated and his fur turned a light shade of black. The dirt was blown around Hang Nail's feet as a purple aurora formed around the fox's body. His cuts and bruises started to heal and he himself began to stand up.

Hang Nail knew about this. Eggman told him that this would happen. He was told it would be strong but… DAMN! There was so much freakin' power coming from him! He was blowing the buildings surrounding them apart just by standing there. It was unsettling! No! More then that! It was freakin scary!

Tails got to his feet and stared at Hang Nail. The first thing the jaguar saw were his now blood red eyes. They were serious and angry.

"I'm dead? Really? I don't know about that. How about you come at me and make sure just for the hell of it." Kitsune Tails spoke with obvious malice in his voice.

Hang Nail was still in too much awe to say anything.

"Aren't you gonna say something? Like how much cooler or stronger you are then me. Surely you're not afraid of me… right Prissy?!"

_Ice Region near the ending point _

Espio had stopped a while ago. His feet refused to carry on in this cold snow. It was too hard for someone his young age anyway. He never once considered giving up however. He sat down by a huge boulder with Shimon sleeping on his shoulder and Charmy was lying on his lap still awake.

"Espo?"

"Yeah?"

"It's cold."

"I know."

"I miss Vector."

"Me too."

They sat in silence for a long while until Espio spoke up again.

"Someone's coming." He said not moving from his spot. Charmy sat up and looked across from Espio in fear. The chameleon put a reassuring hand on Charmy's head.

"Espo? Is…?"

"Don't worry. Whoever's heading toward us isn't evil. I can feel it."

"…Ya can?"

"Yup."

Something was indeed heading their way and Espio was right, they weren't evil. About a minute after Espio spoke up two figures came, ran up to them and stopped at what looked like an incredible passé. Charmy dodged the snow that flew up when they stopped and anxiously turned back to see who they were. Who he saw made his face light up.

"Vector!" The little bee bounced off of Espio's lap and landed on the crocodile's chest for a big, long, and overdue huge.

"Hey kid. I take it ya missed me." Vector said as he hugged the tiny bee back.

"Missed you. Me missed you so much!"

"So did I squirt."

As the two hugged the person accompanying him bent down to Espio's level.

"You okay chameleon?" Asked the hedgehog.

"Sonic? So I guess our mission was a success. Well at least half of it was anyway." Espio responded while positioning himself in a more comfortable position in the snow.

Sonic and Vector had both made it to insure that the rest of the Chaotix were safe, Even so Sonic still had someone to find. He was very grateful to the Chaotix for coming this far out just to safe Tails. They deserved a rest. Sonic, however couldn't stop until he had found Tails and made sure he was safe.

"Vector. Fire! Warm fire!" Charmy urged. The crocodile nodded understanding what he meant and blew a warm fire into the air. It floated in front of the five of them and supplied suitable warmth that satisfied them all. Shimon even woke up upon being introduced to the comfy warmth.

"Wow… that feels nice… hey… there's more people here…" The kid looked up tiredly and saw a green crocodile and a blue hedgehog. This was indeed strange.

"Hey whose this kid?" Vector asked bending down to his eye level.

"Um, I'm Shimon. Who are you?" He looked straight at Vector with confusion in his eyes.

"Who? Me? Oh I'm Vector and the guy next to me is Sonic!" Vector said gladly pointing to the blue hedgehog who whole-heartedly waved back.

"Sonic? Are you… that fox kid's friend?" Shimon asked sitting up and getting Sonic's attention.

"Fox kid? Wait! You mean Tails!"

"Is that his name?"

"Where is he?"

"He headed toward Coordinates 000 a while ago… I think it was a while ago…"

"Thanks! I think I know where I need to go!" With that the hedgehog sped off going faster then the speed he came in at.

"Should we go too?" Espio asked with a slightly noticeable worried tone. Vector simply shook his head.

"Naw! Sonic will handle it. Trust me!" Vector said the statement with such confidence that Espio didn't dare question him again. They simply sat around the fire and rejoiced that their mission had actually been successful.

Two times in a row too! The hedgehog must be a lucky charm!

_Coordinates 000 Starting Point_

It was silent once again. This time the atmosphere seemed a lot colder then usual. It was extremely unsettling.

Hang Nail simply stared in amazement at the power that was erupting from his former punching back. He knew this was coming but this was still incredibly weird. It took him a while but the jaguar finally settled down and began chuckling to himself. Tails immediately noticed it and quickly grew annoyed.

"What's funny? Something you want to share with the massive and destructive powerhouse in front of you?"

"Heh Heh. No not really. I rather like taking people by surprise."

"If it's about that device I'm already familiar with it. Karst used it on me during our fight. I'm not stupid enough to fall for the same trick twice. I'll carve you to pieces before you can use it."

"Oh really… You know I thought you might say somethin' like dat and I'm assurin' ya I'm drawin' up a plan at the moment dat should be enough ta take your confidence out."

"Don't be stupid! We may have had about equal speed before…but I'm much faster then you are now! I'll kill you!" With that Tails charged forward which ultimately caught Hang Nail off guard. What surprised him even more was when he saw Tails disappear right before his hit connected.

"Wh-what is he…?"

Tails appeared beside Hang Nail and took no time in punching him across the face so hard that it created a spiraling shockwave as it connected. It sent Hang Nail through a couple of the buildings before Tails reappeared underneath Hang Nail's body while he was still flying across the land. Tails used both feet to kick him high into the air.

Hang Nail flew just below the clouds before he was hit again. He was sent toward the ground but before he could hit the dirt he was hit to the side again and then sent back upward. A person watching the fight would only be able to make out the black shockwaves going across the sky and the battered and bruised jaguar bouncing off of the shockwaves like they were trampolines.

"How does it feel to have your disappearing act used against you? Huh?!" The kitsune shouted as he continued to blast the jaguar across the sky.

Eventually blood started to rain from the areas where Hang Nail was being hit. He didn't notice it but there were now holes literally imbedded into his body now. The blood would've poured out of his body if it weren't for the fact that Tails was sending it flying across the sky.

Hang Nail was just sent back into the air again with an extremely painful and shocked look on his face. Tails had just reappeared over him again.

'…_No one should be able to move like this… impossible to defend myself!'_

At that moment Tails grabbed Hang Nail's legs and flung him around in a violent circular motion. About a minute later he let go and let Hang Nail plummet to the planet. However, he made sure to grab at one of the ribbons around Hang Nail's fists in order to pull him back up. When he did he delivered one huge punch to the gut that sent him rocketing into the dry soil.

The impact obliterated almost everything near the surrounding area. Tails didn't care how many of these buildings or skulls were destroyed though. The only thing he was concerned with was Hang Nail's defeat.

Tails was ready to float down and see how much damage was done but for some reason before he could come down gracefully he found himself rocketing toward the planet in exhaustion. He hit the ground hard and rolled a bit before stopping in a tired heap.

It didn't take him long to get back up on his feet but when he did he realized that he was dizzy and for some reason he felt completely drained. He was still in his kitsune form from what he could make out. He looked at the huge crater in front of him and decided to check it out. He walked over to the edge of it and slide down inside.

Looking at the center of the crater he saw nothing. Nothing was there. He couldn't tell whether that was good or bad. Had Hang Nail been obliterated by his last deadly punch or…

**WHAM!!**

Tails was kicked into the air by a foot from the dirt connecting with his chin. He flew up and over which caused him to land outside of the crater. He lied there for a while before getting back up and looking his attacker straight in his satisfied eyes.

"It's impossible. How are you alive? HANG NAIL!" Tails shouted his dark aurora fluctuating as he did.

The jaguar smirked then out right laughed at the fox, which got him even more frustrated with the bully.

"Oh man! I didn't think you'd fall for it so easily. For a minute there I was scared! I actually thought I was gonna die! HAHAHA! Can you believe that? Me? Afraid to be killed by you! Can you say 'once in a lifetime miracle'! HAHAHAHAH!"

"You SHOULD be dead! Why aren't you?!" Tails said getting up. He was immediately shocked to see all the holes in Hang Nail's half-metal body healing themselves.

"Why can your body do that? What exactly did Eggman do to you?"

"HAHAHAH! Nothin'! All he did was make half my body metal and increase my stamina, speed, power, and all that jazz. He didn't give me the power to regenerate. That I got from you!"

"Wh-what? But then… that means…" Tails stammered. He looked down at his body. He saw that his fur was no longer black. It had changed back to orange. His aurora was still there and his eyes were still red which meant that Hang Nail hadn't taken all of his kitsune power.

"Looks like my lame device worked after all eh?" Hang Nail's featured were slightly altered as well. He had a small but noticeable aurora but for some reason it was only around his arms and legs. Not only that but the aurora was red instead of black.

"I don't… but how… when did…"

"I took the easy way out when it was my turn to receive the power sucking device. Since Karst was turned to a half-robot before me he got a less advanced model of the device but I got the upgraded one. It worked on my whole body! Every punch that you landed gave me a small portion of your power! Too bad! Guess you ace in the hole just wasn't good enough!"

"… When Karst was made into a half-robot… how long ago was this? How could he have thought to make a device to suck up my kitsune power if I was just given it a while ago?"

"He prepared for it long before you were even born. Some kind of alliance he had with Darkness, Bear Mayor, and that Smoke commander guy. Whatever! I don't care about that! I'm just happy the fight is in my favor now!" Hang Nail said while gloating to a huge extent. Tails angrily shouted back at him.

"It is not in your favor! I'm still half kitsune powered you know!"

"HAHAHAH! So what! There isn't anything you can do with that power except give it to me!"

"…Err…"

"Whenever you lay a finger on me a portion of your power becomes mine! All your punches will be doing is making me stronger while you get weaker. Soon you'll have no choice but to change back into the wimpy four-year-old twerp you originally were."

"…"

"I gotta say. When you're a legendary kitsune it's kinda weird beating on ya. You curse a lot more then you originally do and you growl more too. Oh well! I still know it's you so wiping you tail… err… _tails_ will be satisfying all the same. Should I keep going or do ya wanna fight some more.

"Shut Up! Just shut up! I'll kill you!" Tails shouted, the angered kitsune part of him taking over, and charged at Hang Nail with incredible speed. He lashed out an even faster punch but Hang Nail easily caught it. The force of Tails punch was sent out in a shockwave that was sent outward instead of at Hang Nail. He repelled the force so easily.

"Thanks for that power!" Hang Nail lifted Tails up and punched him in his stomach. It was a much bigger force then any punch he delivered from before. Tails would have flown a great distance had Hang Nail not been holding on to his arm.

The jaguar pulled him back and delivered punch after punch to the poor kids gut until in looked like he was about ready to cough his gut up!

"Had enough? Too bad! I might consider easing up if you cry for me. Begging would also be acceptable." Hang Nail said as he continued to pound the blood out of Tails mouth and on to his face. Hang Nail would've licked it off if his teeth weren't closed together in his huge evil grin.

Hang Nail kept punching until he got bored with the same routine and let go of his arm on last punch. Tails wasn't punched as far as Hang Nail thought he would be but that in truth was a good thing. That way he could continue the torture quicker.

Tails slowly got up. A considerable amount of power had been drained from him because of all those punches. He gritted his teeth in pain and mentally cursed himself for flying off the handle and mindlessly attacking Hang Nail like that. It was too late now though.

Soon his power would be gone and Hang Nail will win again. He can't win! Not again! It just couldn't end like that! It just couldn't!"

_Coordinates 000: Beginning of the middle point – War Zone area_

Shoui, Buru, and all of their soldiers had walked a long distance and the more they walked the closer they got to Bocoe and Decoe's army. They were sure they were but a few more steps from a suitable ambush point. It wouldn't be long now.

"I can't wait to get this play started. Once all the actors are in place we'll be able to reach that castle and destroy the source of the enemies power. Isn't it wonderful!" Shoui almost shouted with excitement as they continued further.

Buru kept walking while feeling a sense of uneasiness approaching. Whatever was about to happen next would decide the fate of the world. Was that something to be so excited about? Maybe Shoui was just feeling adventurous.

"The climax is almost here. Once everyone who needs to be here arrives and we begin our war to decide who reigns supreme." Buru said.

"No need to be so dramatic, Buru. Just think of it as a play that will decide the fate of your acting career!" Shoui said as she sped up slightly.

"… I'd rather not… thank you…"

_Ice Region ending point_

Smokestack was more than confused. He knew Darkness should've caught on to him by now. He knew that Darkness had something that would be considered higher then a sixth sense so why hadn't he caught up to the guy yet? It didn't make any kind of sense what's so ever.

The only explanation Smoke could think of was… that maybe… Darkness had turned back and went back into the Ice Region. But why would he do such a thing? His target was already in Coordinates 000. It didn't make sense for him to do that unless…

"I see… like those punks from Assassination Unit 7 more people who originally weren't supposed to be part of the prophecy are here… but who? I know it isn't the hedgehog. Who else was with the fox…?"

_Ice Region near ending point_

"I think I see someone!" Shouted Knuckles as he and Amy made their way to a nearby boulder that had come into view a while ago.

"Is it Sonic? SONIC!" Amy's speed increased as she ran toward the boulder. She was sure there were at least four people there. "Hey! You guys! YOO WHOOOO!!" Amy shouted.

A kunai knife stopped by her feet before she was able to get any closer to the people. Amy shrieked, stepped back, and then grew angry.

"Who threw that?" Amy shouted getting angry almost immediately.

"I did." Said a purple chameleon. He didn't look familiar to Amy, which made her wonder why he would attack a stranger like that.

"Well why?! I didn't do anything wrong!"

"I sensed hostility coming from you." Espio merely stated.

"… WHO'S HOSTILE! I'LL SHOW YOU HOSTILE!!" Amy was able to charge when Knuckles grabbed her and held her back.

"Amy! Calm down! This guy was just being cautious! Let it go!" Knuckles wasn't in the mood for this. He was so tired it wasn't even funny.

"ERRR! Fine. I'll let him off. This time." Amy walked closer to Espio a bit more cautious this time and sat beside him. Espio let her sit seeing as she wasn't an enemy… apparently.

Knuckles walked up to the others and sat in front of them as well. He sighed in exhaustion knowing this was something he'd rather have avoided. He had a weak spot for helping out noble people in danger though so he couldn't just let Tails get killed.

"So, who are you two?" Vector asked as he, Charmy, and Shimon cradled around the fire the crocodile had created.

"I'm Knuckles and the scary looking one is Amy." Knuckles explained prompting Amy's vein to throb. Why were people talking about her like this? It wasn't fair. She just wanted to meet up with Sonic. So what if she wanted to bash a few heads to clear the boredom along the way.

"Nice to meet you. Name's Vector! The bee is Charmy and this boy beside him is Shimon."

"HI!" Charmy said enthusiastically.

"Hello." Shimon said kind of shy like.

"Aren't you wearing inappropriate clothes for this kind of weather?" Amy asked leaning over to see the boy.

"Well… yeah… I was living in the Green Hill Zone at the time… but I was kidnapped and brought here by a mean jaguar. These guys saved me from trekking in the snow until I died though. Plus this fire is warm enough to keep the cold off of me." Shimon said silently. Amy was moved.

"Aww! You poor thing!" Amy got up and walked around so she could sit by Shimon. "You must've been scared out of your mind."

"Y-yeah. It was scary. But everything is fine now."

"Oh! You're such a cute boy! And a brave one at that! I've always liked people who strive to fight for things they believe in. You believe in living and I believe in the love between Sonic and me." Amy said as she pulled Shimon in close to her.

Upon touching her warm body Shimon blushed and looked away from her. Amy noticed and chuckled at his behavior.

"So why are you guys here?" Knuckles asked starting to feel relaxed for the first time since coming to 3-way-villa.

"We came to help out a friend. We usually don't risk our lives unless it's for a job since we're detectives but these two really left an impression on us." Vector explained.

"Yeah… I know how that feels… I left an important job to help out someone important to me too."

The echidna and crocodile both sighed, looked up at the sky and both talked in unison.

"Oh Tails, I hope you're okay."

As soon as that was uttered everyone turned too look at their new companions. Vector looked straight at Knuckles and Knuckles did like wise.

"W-wait so you're…" Started Vector.

"The person you came to protect was…" Started Knuckles.

"Tails." Finished Espio.

"Fox fwend!" Shouted Charmy.

"The one I gave the message too." Said Shimon.

"Tails…" Amy simply said with a worried look on her face. It was silent for a while until Vector spoke up again.

"Yeah… him and Sonic sort of helped us out back in Future City when the Mortal Slicer had attacked us." Explained Vector.

"They helped me recover my emerald from that douche Igneous Rock…" Admitted Knuckles.

"So we're all looking for the same person! This is great!" Amy shouted.

"But we already found them." Espio said quickly getting Amy's attention.

"Eh?" Amy turned to the chameleon.

"Yeah. Sonic was here not but a while ago." Espio pointed out which got Amy excited.

"WHAT! REALLY! Why didn't you say this before!? Come on! We've got to go!" Amy shouted.

"We can't." Espio simply said back.

"Huh? Why not?" Amy was confused. Vector tried his best to explain.

"It's because up ahead is Coordinates 000. It's a place that not many people can stand being in for long. Especially when you're close to its castle." The crocodile explained.

"Castle?" Amy asked.

"Hold up! You know about what's in Coordinates 000! You did remember to warn Sonic right?" Knuckles asked in a hopeful voice.

Vector, Charmy, and Espio's sweat-dropped in unison.

"Well… we would have if he didn't take off so fast… but there isn't much to worry about." Espio said butting in. "Sonic can take care of himself. Besides, he's on a much more noble mission then we are at the moment. He can't afford to die."

"I've still got to follow him there though. I need to warn Tails about the castle that's there." Knuckles added clearly shaken up. "If I don't tell Tails the research I found he could be in grave danger."

"Him? In grave danger? But Tails is the kitsune right?" Espio asked which shocked Knuckles.

"You know about the kitsune legend?"

"Yeah. We researched it before coming here as well. It was hard to believe but when we put two and two together we eventually found out about what was inside Tails." Espio explained.

"Then we save Taily from meanie icebot!" Charmy shouted with glee.

"We understand that Tails is suppose to be the one to gain all this power if he goes to the castle in Coordinates 000 so we figured Tails would be the last person in danger." Vector said as he started to worry.

"No! There's more to it then that! Tails is in more danger then anyone else here. While it's true he gains power when he becomes a kitsune the legend says that when the next creation of a kitsune is to happen at coordinates 000 the one who started it all will be there to repeat the act of treason he committed in the past." Knuckles explained.

"This is the first time I've heard this? What does it mean?" Espio asked his facial expression showing concern.

"There are four coordinates on this planet. All of which have had a kitsune born there throughout time. Each one is more dangerous then the last. Coordinates 000 is where the first kitsune in existence was born. Coordinates 025A, 050, 025B is where the other three were born as life went on. Eventually the cycle was to end at Coordinates 000. The place where it all started." Knuckles spilled out his research too them.

"I don't get it. Why is Tails in trouble then?" Amy asked.

"Well… the legend says that when the kitsune was born it didn't possess the power to live throughout time like it has now. When it was created the person who was responsible for it's creation had been sentenced to death a while ago for treason against the kingdom that resides in Coordinates 000. Since this person wanted revenge on everyone who had convicted him he supposedly used the kitsune to destroy the kingdom and everyone there. He then used a spell to make it so a kitsune would show up at different coordinates throughout time as to let the world know of it's power."

"Sounds a little farfetched to me." Vector said.

"I know… and you know what… it's not true!" Knuckles said with a very serious look on his face.

"What? But the libraries said…" Amy began

"The libraries pass this stuff of as junk. They consider it fiction and so did the people researching it. That's why they half-assed the story and let the person behind this and his real intention go unheard of." Knuckles said completely sure of himself.

"So what do you think really happened?" Vector asked.

"Well… I think… the reason the man who created the kitsune was sentenced to death… was because he was accused of outright treason against their king… that much I believe from the library but… I don't think the fox he made into a kitsune was any random fox… I think… it was the king himself who was made into a kitsune."

"…" Everyone was silent.

"He probably used the king to destroy his own kingdom and when that was done he tried to get the power for himself like he intended in the first place. Something must've gone wrong and he couldn't reclaim the power he had meant to give to himself. So when he realized he should've made himself a kitsune in the first place instead of giving the power to the king and controlling him he created this coordinates system."

"I still don't get it. What would be the point of creating this system?" Espio asked.

"I think… he did it so that when a kitsune emerged that was powerful enough to not even have control over it's own power this person could use that to his advantage and take it for himself like he intended to do when he created it." Knuckles explained.

"Wow, Knuckles! I didn't know you could be so smart." Amy said.

"Oh really? Is that a fact? Well I'm familiar with ancient stories so I'm pretty good with this stuff." Knuckles said with a small smirk.

"I think I see a flaw though. If this person who turned his king into a kitsune and then made the coordinates system wanted to eventually take the power, did he even consider how long that would take? This must've taken place thousands of years ago. The dude can't still be alive." Vector stated.

"He must've been smart enough to know that he had to keep some power to himself if he had any hope of taking the kitsune's power. I'm sure it was enough to keep him alive." Knuckles said.

"Really? Sounds scary." Said Shimon.

"It is… but it's true… not only that but I bet we just figured out the whole situation too. It would be a shame if someone were here who didn't like the fact that his whole plan was just discovered right." Knuckles said in an angry tone, which confused everyone there.

Amy was about to ask him why he was suddenly so angry when Knuckles spoke his reason.

"I know you're there. You can come out now." Knuckles said looking behind him. Everyone was shocked. Someone was listening in on their conversation?

"Hmph! I guess I've been found out." A huge aurora of power erupted in front of them and the cloaked schemer approached from the depths of it.

There stood Darkness. His hands were by his side and his posture was perfect.

"This must've been the hostile power I was sensing earlier!" Espio said remembering his kunai to Amy.

"Naw, I'm pretty sure that was Amy." Knuckles joked. Amy wasn't amused.

"Seems you figured out what the scientists could not. I congratulate you on that echidna. However, all this does is give more of a reason to kill you all now." Darkness said stepping closer.

"You sick bastard. I was right wasn't I? You betrayed your king and his people and turned him into a monster that you dubbed kitsune. Then when you used him to destroy the kingdom you tried to take the power for yourself but didn't have enough power to take it back did you. Guess that was your first mistake huh?" Knuckles said getting up to face the deity.

"I make very few mistakes. However, that was a miscalculation on my part. I had a way around it though. I created the Coordinates system. Since I couldn't take the power I had to find a way to get the one in charge of it to become unable to control it himself. It was relatively simple. Since the power of the kitsune increases with time it becomes harder and harder for one to control it's own power. As time went on its power grew more and more unstable until finally I find myself with little Miles Prower."

"Tails." Vector snarled.

"My apologizes. Tails then. His power was so strong it was about ready to burst! I knew this was my chance! Once he loses control of his power it will drift and I will claim it. After thousands of years of waiting the power of the kitsune will finally become mine."

"You think so don't you." Knuckles said getting in his fighting position. "And what makes you think you can control it if Tails can't?"

"I **know **I can control it because unlike him I'm not a child." Darkness stated factually. Amy grew mad and summoned up her hammer.

"Oh yeah! And what are you planning on doing with Tails when he releases all this power!" She shouted.

"The same thing I did to the fox king when he passed his power on to the next generation of foxes… kill him."

With that Darkness started laughing like a mad man. It angered Amy so much that she launched at Darkness in blind rage.

"AMY! STOP! HE'S TOO POWERFUL!" Knuckles shouted too late.

Darkness grabbed her hammer just as it was about to connect and sent a huge black jolt of electricity through her body by using it. The blast shot Amy backward and had her crash into the snow in front of everyone.

Espio and Vector were taken a back. Charmy and Shimon were scared out of their wits. Knuckles ran to her and bent down to see her unconscious.

"You bastard! She's a girl!" Knuckles shouted.

"… So I noticed." Darkness said with his tone unchanged. Knuckles then ran toward Darkness but stopped when Darkness held out his hand. A dark energy circled around everyone except Knuckles.

"Hey you! Let them go!" Knuckles shouted getting even angrier.

"… No I don't think so… for you see they all know my plan… as do you…"

"…Err… you…"

"However, I will allow you a privilege that I haven't granted anyone I've killed before. I usually like to see them die wondering who it was that killed them. However, since you were the first to figure out my plan I'll allow you to see my face." Darkness said as he took the hand he wasn't holding up and removed his hood.

Knuckles almost had a heart attack when he saw his purple face. It was unreal. It couldn't be!

"N-no! It can't be! You… you look just like…!" Knuckles started.

"Times up!" Darkness clenched his fists and his power erupted.

An explosion could be heard in the distance.

_Coordinates 000 War Zone_

"Bocoe! Decoe! Are you ready! You must prepare for war!" Came an incoming signal from Bokkun.

"Prepare for… but why? I don't see anyone." Decoe remarked.

"Their upon you! The G.U.N! They're here!" He shouted.

"Where?" Bocoe asked.

Suddenly an explosion took place behind them. The huge building in their way was gone. In front of them was a huge platoon of G.U.N soldiers. There were millions of them just like there were millions of robots behind Bocoe and Decoe. It was then that Bocoe and Decoe realized they were in a huge battlefield with skulls everywhere.

"Oh crap." Bocoe said surprised.

"Were we… they… right behind us this entire time?" Decoe asked.

"It's called an ambush! And it looks like there is enough space here for a battle." Shoui remarked.

"Well we're just going to have to run and fight at the same time because we need to reach that castle. How about instead of the original boring war, we fight in a new sense. We fight while we're running through this maze of buildings. Whoever reaches the top of the castle first wins." Decoe suggested.

"Doing that would make all of Coordinates 000 a war zone and not just this area… I like that. Let's do it." Buru said the thought of massive explosions taking place around Coordinates 000 exciting him.

"Then it's agreed! And we're starting… rrrrrrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiighhhhhhht…. NOW!" Decoe shouted then took off toward the castle with Bocoe following. Shoui simply chuckled.

"Eggman's bots sure are strange. Attack! Follow them! Tear this place upside down if you have to! This is a war zone! No slacking off!" Shoui shouted. Immediately the soldiers began attacking the robots and the robots did likewise.

Buru headed for the rooftops and looked the area over. It had happened so fast! The robots and soldiers were starting to go all over the place. They were headed to the high rooftops and to the low cellars of the abandoned kingdom. It didn't take long for gunshots to be heard. It made Buru smile. It was exciting! What's even more amazing was that it was all a race! The first one to the castle is the winner. Such excitement! He had to make sure his participation in this was to it's fullest.

With that Buru jumped from rooftop to rooftop destroying every robot in his path. The battles were quickly spreading around all of coordinates 000. Buru had to give Eggman credit where it was due.

His robots sure knew how to throw a good party!

_Coordinates 000 Starting point_

Tails had been dodging Hang Nail's every attack as to not get touched by him. He was jumping back so much he didn't even realize he had entered the war zone. When he ran into one of Eggman's robots he immediately destroyed it and kept running.

Gunshots and explosions could be heard as he continued on. They didn't concern Tails at all. He had to think of a plan to beat Hang Nail without having his powers robbed.

The jaguar shot threw all of the robots in his way so that he could catch up to Tails. Tails had made his way across the maze of run down buildings so that he could finally find a place to settle down and think.

When he stopped he immediately regretted it when he heard Hang Nail awful voice coming from above. Tails looked up and saw the jaguar standing on a building's rooftop. An explosion took place behind him and it made Hang Nail look even more evil with the added effect.

"Thanks for stopping and giving me a chance to catch up two-tail! Now where were we!" He asked. Tails jumped up on another rooftop across from him and just stared at him until he shouted in anger.

"Hang Nail! I swear I'll win! I swear it!" Tails shouted. Before Hang Nail could answer a robot jumped out at him. He was about to slash it a part when something else shot threw it and destroyed it before he could.

A huge blur had passed threw it.

Tails saw what destroyed it and watched as it landed on the rooftop beside him. They both watched in awe as he stood up and faced them both with a serious look on his face.

"I finally found you… buddy." Said the blue hedgehog who had finally caught up to him little brother.

"S-Sonic?" Tails asked surprised.

"Well, well! If it ain't the has-been hero! Here to save his loser friend I guess!" Hang Nail laughed. "Look! Why don't you come back later! We're busy here!" Hang Nail said smugly.

"I don't care! That's my friend and I won't let you warm him!" Sonic shouted across to the jaguar.

"Get out of here Sonic! For once the bully is right! This is between him and me! I'll kill anyone who gets in our way!" Tails shouted which didn't surprise Sonic in the least.

"I see you're that freaky kitsune again aren't you. Well then, I guess this is still going to turn out to be a harder mission then I thought." Sonic sighed in frustration.

"Oh please! Stop playing hero you…!" Hang Nail was about to pounce on Sonic when a huge mass of smoke circled around his body and flung him against his building. "What the! Who did…?"

"Shut up before I tear your mouth off!" Came the shout of the G.U.N commander Smokestack. He floated down on to the building next to Hang Nail. "I think I've seen you before jaguar. Working for Eggman now are you?"

"What of it?" Hang Nail yelled back clearly flustered.

"Nothing… I just want the fox!" Smoke said as he pointed diagonally to Tails. Tails just growled at him.

"Hang on! Your not touching Tails!" Sonic assured Smokestack.

"Yeah! He's my pray! Both of you back off!" Hang Nail said getting even angrier.

"Sonic! Smokestack! I'm fighting Hang Nail right now! But if you two want me to kill you first I'll gladly do it!" Tails said clenching his fists which freaked Hang Nail out.

"WHAT! No! I'm your first priority! Me not them! ME DAMNIT! I'll kill them so that it can stay that way!" Hang Nail said getting even more annoyed.

"Hmph! You can't kill me! Your claws will go straight through my smoke! I'll gladly take you and the hedgehog out if it's to get the fox!" Smoke shouted.

"Hold it! No one's killing me either! I'll fight all of you, including that kitsune in Tails, to make sure my buddy stays safe." Sonic boasted.

"A four way battle sounds interesting. I'll gladly accept!" Tails shouted with a hyped grin on his face.

"Oh please! All of you can just GO TO HELL!!" Smoke shouted as he sent his blasts of smog out to the other three. They all dodged and began to go on the offence.

And just like that It had begun. The survival test to see who'd reach the castle first had finally begun.

However, someone was still missing...

_Ice Region Unknown location_

Metal Sonic stood in front of Karst Ice's body. It had been mutilated beyond repair. Just by looking it over he could tell who it was that did this.

"The fox... it would seem he's in Coordinates 000... already... really..." Metal said reaching into Karst's metal body and ripping something shinny out.

In his hand was a small compartment where Karst's chaos emerald was suppose to be. However, it wasn't there. It was then that Metal decide to use his emerald location signal which was given to him by Eggman, and upgraded by Darkness, to see where it had gone.

After about a minute he stopped looking and turned to face where he thought Coordinates 000 was.

"I see... Karst's light blue emerald is with a pink hedgehog... a bat has the purple one... an echidna has the green one... the blue hedgehog has both the yellow and the red one... Eggman has the white one... and I've got the dark blue emerald... that means... all the chaos emeralds are here..."

Metal began walking away from Karst's body.

"I guess this means... it's time to begin..."

_That's all for now! Review please! Tell me how you liked this chapter!_


	35. Chapter 35

_I'm back everyone and I'm really thankful that all you people like my story. I know it's long and to be honest I hadn't planned on it getting passed 30 chapters. I'm going to try something new and see if I can respond to all of your reviews without sounding stupid… wish me luck!_

**Silver Sheilds:** Of course you can think of something like this! Maybe something better! I guess it depends on _how _you think up your ideas. And you're probably going to be right about this chapter being longer then the last.

**BlackxShootingxSta**r**:** Really! Cool! Thanks for the comment! I certainly will keep it up!

**Shinju the Rabbit:** I can't wait either! That's why I'm writing the next chapter now!

**Kitsune-SuperFox: **You're not the only one who thinks Hang Nail is annoying. I've still got use for him though so bare it a little longer

**tailsim:** Thank you so much! I love stories with good plots so I tried my hardest with this one.

**Sparktimus:** It has all that stuff? I'll have to read it over and see! Thanks for your review!

**Raziel777:** Yeah, you're right. Hang Nail doesn't have anything redeeming about him. I'm glad you like the story and I always look forward to your opinion. It's probably because your Naruto and Sonic crossover story is so good. I also can't wait for the next chapter of your story as well. Thanks for everything man!

**Tails117**: Epic win X3!! Amazing! That's great! I feel so good right now! I need to get started on this chapter while I'm feeling so good. Thanks by the way!

**Stevenboss:** I'd be more than happy to allow you to beat the crap out of him if he were real. Oh well. Thanks for your review.

_Seriously though, thanks to all of you for sticking with this story. If anyone has any questions I'll be happy to answer them all for you! I greatly appreciate it!_

_Read and Review please!_

**Chapter 34: Who's the loser now? **

"Damnit! Damnit! Damnit!" Eggman shouted for what _seemed_ like the 30th time but who's counting? The answer was Bokkun.

"Doctor. Are you angry? You sound like that retarded alien from Robot Chicken."

"No Bokkun! I'm not angry! I'm just really happy to be by you, that's all!" Eggman shouted while basically slamming his controls forward so that his Eggmobile would go faster. It couldn't go faster was the problem though. They had just recently made it into Coordinates 000 and they had been going at full speed for what seemed like forever!

"I don't believe it! It just baffles me how I, the great Dr.Eggman-sama could actually be the farthest one away from Coordinates 000! It's simply amazing!" He shouted angrily. He was jamming all the buttons on his console hoping to get a giant robot or something to come up to him so he could control it and cause a riot. The usual evil genius routine it was.

"… Sama?" A confused Bokkun asked

"It's Japanese."

"Oh… what's it mean?"

"Shut it Bokkun!"

_Coordinates 000: War zone 3_

"It figures that Smoke dude would be the first to attack!" Hang Nail complained while pouting. "I wanted to attack first!"

"I seriously suggest you keep your mouth shut like I said before. I meant what I said about your mouth! I will tear it off! Don't think I haven't done it to someone else before!"

"You're creepy!"

"And you're a 'Forever Virgin'! Want to share any more 'Fun Facts' with me!" Smoke was annoyed. Hang Nail's vein was about to pop.

"Take it back you!" Hang Nail launched himself at Smoke while Sonic and Tails just watched.

Smoke was about to put his hands up in defense when Hang Nail suddenly got behind him.

"I've got you now!" He shouted in excitement.

Before he could land a blow however, he was kicked in the face by the powered up kitsune. Hang Nail fell to the ground and quickly forced himself to recover.

"Getting impatient Two-Tail? Don't worry! Our fight will continue! I just have a little pest control to take care of!" Hang Nail said as he drew out his claws and jumped toward Smoke. Tails however got in his way and stopped his claws with his own.

While the two struggled in the air Smoke powered up his projectile until it was ready to fire. With the two of them trying to pin each other down like that it would be easy to take them out. He fired his smoke bomb at both Tails and Hang Nail hoping to take two birds out with one stone.

Suddenly the unexpected happened when Tails flipped Hang Nail's body over and used him as a shield from Smoke's attack. It hit the jaguar and caused a considerable amount of crushing pain before Tails let the bully drop. He then just as quickly began to run up the line of smog left behind from Smoke's attack.

"Attacking head on are we?" Smoke was about to fire with his other arm when two hands covered his eyes.

"Guess who?" Came the chuckle of a familiar blue hedgehog.

"Arrgh! I can't see! Let me go hedgehog!" Smoke shouted as his arms began to flail. Smoke couldn't be injured by physical attacks but that was only when he could see them coming!

It was too late however. Tails punched Smoke across the face and knocked him down. Sonic jumped over and landed in front of the fox with an amazing amount of grace.

"Nice one buddy!" He said while holding up his thumb. The unforgettable grin shown on his face yet again. Without even considering what to do next Tails lashed out at Sonic which, despite the friendly gesture, Sonic saw coming a mile away.

He began dodging Tails' deadly blows one by one. Eventually he reached the edge of the building he was on. Tails was about to attack again and finish Sonic off when he felt a jolting pain in his back.

Hang Nail's claws were penetrating him.

"Got ya! HAHAH!" He laughed manically.

Tails immediately jumped up with amazing speed and flew across the sky toward the direction of the castle. Both Sonic and Hang Nail looked confused by his action.

"Hey! Where you going Two-Tail!" Hang Nail shouted right before getting a kick in the face from Sonic. The jaguar ducked back then watched as Sonic followed Tails in pursuit.

"Tails! Wait!" He shouted as he began to building hop. The constant explosions coming from the battles taking place all over the place were throwing him off balance but he managed to keep his footing.

"Don't tell me what to do!" Tails was angered. What he truly wanted to do was lure at least one person away so that he could have the upper hand. Sonic was the lucky winner.

Tails curled himself up in a ball and shot himself down at Sonic with a blinding speed. Sonic barely dodged his aerial assault. Tails continued the process, which caused more and more buildings to be destroyed as they continued one. Sonic was about to trip when Tails shot back down again for what seemed like the longest time imaginable.. However, as luck would have it, another explosion took place below him and the building Sonic was suppose to land on when he jumped off the last one exploded.

Needless to say, Sonic fell. The good news though was that there was an Eggman robot in his way to break his fall.

"Sorry." Sonic apologized to the pile of scrap that lay below him and looked up to see two surprised G.U.N soldiers. "Hey guys." He said with yet another friendly voice. The two men simply pointed their guns at him. "Guess being polite is frowned upon in the army." Sonic quickly got up and ran the opposite direction Tails was in as a means of escaping the barrage of bullets that followed.

"WHOA!" Sonic shouted as he ducked a huge pair of claws coming straight at him. They of course belonged to Hang Nail. The look on his face told Sonic that he was far from happy.

Hang Nail's swipe missed Sonic and squired one of the G.U.N soldiers, instantly killing him. The other one quickly began to fire at Hang Nail. The jaguar dodged and attacked the soldier. However, before his attack could hit…

WHAM!!

Smokestack's boot and Tails' shoe connected with the jaguar's face sending him crashing through two buildings and three Eggman robots.

As soon as Smoke and Tails landed the commander didn't hesitate to attack the fox. He sent a huge projectile of Smoke out at Tails and sent him flying farther then Hang Nail had flown.

Tails crashed into the ruins and struggled to get up. Clearly, everyone was more then serious about this fight. Tails was about to think up a strategy when a bullet flew past his face. He looked down and saw several Eggman robots below him.

"They shot at me? How stupid?"

For some reason the robots had installed in them a black screen with numbers on them. Each one had the same number and above the number the words 'Participant's left…' were written. Tails thought for a second then realized what that meant.

"On their chest's… are the number of robots, animals, and people who are still able to fight in the war…" Tails looked at the robots and saw the amazingly high number that was somewhere in the billions decrease at an alarmingly fast rate. Tails didn't know that the killing of people could happen so fast!

"I bet those robots have sensors on them that allow them to tell how many people, robots, and animals are here…"

The robots raised their guns and began firing at Tails. The fox jumped and blasted through them both in a flash. The sound of sparks and electric crackling was heard followed by the sound of two slams against the ground.

Tails turned to look at the damage. He saw the screen with the number on one of the robot's chests was still intact. He looked at it and saw the huge number decrease by two.

_Meanwhile a couple yards back_

Sonic was hopping from building to building while trying to avoid Smoke's attacks. It was amazing how much stamina this guy had. Sonic soon came up on a huge area filled with a great deal of ruined stone towers. He saw plenty of Eggman robots and G.U.N soldiers below. He knew running into them would be trouble but he couldn't very well let Smoke catch him.

The hedgehog landed in the middle of the soldiers and robots. His being there was quickly noticed and he was shot at vigorously. He had to literally dance around in the same spot to avoid all the bullets that were being shot at him.

Almost immediately after Smoke came down and took out the Eggman robots surrounding Sonic with a barrage of powerful punches. Sonic took this opportunity to strike down the soldiers that were shooting at him as well. He lunged at them and took out three before something caught at his leg. What timing!

Sonic fell and rolled a bit until he stopped in front of a wounded soldier. Apparently he had been shot in a vital area and the blood that seeped out of his chest told him that the poor guy was suffering. He looked down at him wishing he could help but quickly got back up knowing that he couldn't. Sonic looked ahead and tried to register the situation. Smoke was currently taking out a bunch of robots and all the soldiers in this particular area were unconscious.

That didn't last long.

Suddenly five huge explosions took place behind Sonic and robots began to pop out of nowhere beyond the smoke. They landed around the area, which made it look like Sonic and Smokestack were completely surrounded.

"Oi! How many of you are there? Sheesh!" Sonic was frustrated, that was for sure. As if on cue more G.U.N soldiers came from beyond the black smoke as well. They all immediately opened fire on all the robots. Some shots were able to blast through the robots while some missed entirely.

"Those most be some hard-ass bullets… and I don't know why but that sounded wrong…" Sonic shook his discomfort off and readied himself for the hell-fire that was sure to come. When it did the hedgehog ducked through the bullets as a means of getting out of there.

He ran straight up to a robot and was hoping to bash through it. However, someone beat him to it. The robot in front of him was destroyed and behind the smoke was a face he rather he hadn't seen.

"Hey hedgehog!" Hang Nail said as he held a G.U.N soldier by the neck in his bloody hand.

"You let him go now and maybe I'll convince my alternate dimensional self to consider going easy on you!" Sonic growled while clenching his fists.

"Sounds tempting but I've got a better idea! I crush this guy's neck, then I crush yours!" The jaguar laughed and began to squeeze the life out of the defenseless soldier. Sonic grew angrier with each cry that was let out of the poor guy's mouth. Sonic couldn't take it! He launched himself at Hang Nail… only to be met with a fist in the face!

Sonic fell on to the ground in a dazed state while he looked on. He saw Hang Nail drop the soldier and step over his presumably dead body toward the hedgehog.

"Sorry but I ain't get' in hit by you any more!" Hang Nail grinned as he opened up his claws. He was about to bring them down when an ear-piercing yell was heard not far from where they were.

Smoke, Sonic, and Hang Nail all looked toward the direction where the scream came from. A huge dark aura could be seen engulfing the area. It was originating from none other then Tails!

The kitsune was standing in front of a huge robot. It had guns sprouting on it from all sides. There were guns even in places where there weren't suppose to be. It looked like something that could frustrate someone to the point of screaming in anger.

However, that robot sure picked the wrong person to piss off.

Tails had fought his way back to where Sonic and the others were with a huge determined spirit. Even so, his determination quickly transformed to rage, as it seemed that these robots just didn't know when to quit.

The robot Tails was standing in front of now was charging up its unnecessarily large cannons and preparing to fire. Tails was poised and ready to tear it apart when three voices came from behind and finished it for him.

"Don't touch the fox!"

Three different feet slammed into the robot's back which quickly caused it to break apart and burst into a pile of scrap.

"He's my prey!"

"He's my Kill!"

"He's my friend!"

The three landed behind Tails and quickly turned around to meet the fox in the face.

"Yo." Was all he said.

A long silence followed, if you don't count the explosions and gunfire that is.

They all looked across and aside from each other as if they were trying to carve their way into each other's soul. Try as they might they couldn't figure out what the other was thinking besides the fact that each one wanted everyone else defeated.

A second later and the four were at it again. They slammed into each other, which resulted in a huge destructive shockwave that basically cleared the nearby area of any intact buildings that may have been around.

When they broke apart Sonic and Smoke were across from each other on two ruined buildings. Sonic was about to attack Smoke when the small building he was on collapsed further unexpectedly. Obviously Smoke didn't see it coming and he toppled over the stones below, cursing as he fell to the ground.

Sonic was able to catch what caused the building to break apart. At first he thought it was because of the collision but his fast eyes couldn't be deceived. Sonic looked up and saw Tails hovering overhead with a rock bouncing in his hand.

"You saw me throw it didn't you?" Tails asked as he was cradling the stone in his hands.

"Sure did." Sonic answered with a serious tone of voice.

"Well then I guess you'll have no problem dodging this next one right!"

"Tails! Please! Just stop! I'm your-"

"Your what? Friend? I don't have any friends in this form!" Tails shouted as he shot the rock down to Sonic. The hedgehog jumped off the ruins with the expected amount of speed. Tails took after Sonic immediately after.

Sonic was running through the ruins and stones as a means of getting Tails away from all this danger. He needed to lure Tails into an area where he could get him out of that kitsune form and fast.

Sonic was close. He could feel it! He would've made it if it weren't for one little detail he didn't count on.

All of a sudden Sonic heard a shout of pain come from behind him. The hedgehog recognized the scream as Tails' and screeched to a stop. Sonic turned around and saw Tails lying on the ground with blood across his chest.

Sonic also saw bloody claws coming from behind the ancient stone that he had passed by. Sonic's eyes widened as he looked back with a much more close inspection.

Tails was lying on the ground, no longer in his kitsune form!

"HAHAHAH!! I tricked him!" Came the cackle of a certain jaguar. Hang Nail walked out from behind the stone.

"You!" Sonic said angrily. He couldn't believe what he just witnessed.

"I got all of his power now! Two-tail is my prey!" Hang Nail said as he approached the fox. Sonic immediately jumped up and sprang at the jaguar. With Tails lying on the ground in that defenseless position he had to make sure Hang Nail didn't so much as lay a finger on him.

His eyes were so focused on Hang Nail and Tails that he didn't even notice the smoke projectile coming straight at the jaguar. However, Hang Nail noticed it and he also knew that Sonic didn't!

The smoke projectile made it's way up to Hang Nail's face. The jaguar dodged it at the last second and let it pass over his head. It clearly took Sonic by surprise to suddenly see such a strong attack coming at him from out of nowhere. It was too bad though. The attack hit Sonic dead on and knocked him far and high. The hedgehog didn't stop flying until he ended up landing on top of a seemingly random and tall still-intact building.

Smoke cursed at himself for missing his target, which, of coarse, had to have been Hang Nail. He couldn't let the jaguar get to the fox before he did!

Hang Nail chuckled and looked down on Tails' unmoving body. He pulled back his claws and was about ready to take him out.

"This is it… guess you're still the worthless homeless two tail you always were!" Hang Nail shouted as he brought his claws down.

CLANG!

Clang? Hang Nail was confused. The sound of blood splattering didn't sound like clang. On closer inspection Hang Nail was able to see what had happened.

His hand had connected with a finger. A huge finger in fact. A huge, giant, metal, robotic, Eggman-made, finger!

Hang Nail looked up and saw what the robotic finger belonged to. In front of Smoke, Tails, and the shocked jaguar was a giant blue and red fighter robot. It was complete with the humongous shoulder blades and the budging built-in muscles, which complemented its looks. It had steam jetting out of the sockets in its head. The head had a window over the place where the eyes should be which showed what was inside.

What was inside happened to be a very ticked off Eggman and his little messenger boy.

"Oh… hey doctor… I was just…" Hang Nail began while rubbing the back of his neck in an awkward fashion.

"Disobeying me right?" The look on Eggman's face told the jaguar that he was pretty steamed.

"… Or boiled… heheh yeah… Eggman's a boiled egg… HAHAH I'm funny." The jaguar said quietly to himself.

"I don't know what you're laughing about but whatever it is I won't allow it. Happiness is forbidden in times of war! Especially when it's my war!"

"Hey Eggman just chill! I was just…"

"Killing my ticket to world conquest!"

"Why won't you let me finish?"

"Because I know all I'll get from you are lies. That's how I choose my partners. If they're good liars than they can easily deceive someone else for me while in turn it's impossible for them to deceive me! It's sort of an invisible pattern."

"…" Hang Nail honestly didn't know how to respond to something like that.

"Now then, back to the matter at hand! Take your claws off my robot's finger and BACK OFF!!"

Hang Nail smiled to himself and did what he was told. The doctor didn't know that he had all of Tails' kitsune powers. What he was saving was just a useless shell.

"Okay, you win doctor." Hang Nail chuckled realizing that Eggman had made one huge mistake. Giving his commanders the power to take Tails' power was not a good idea especially during times of war. It should've hit him that betrayal came often during conflicts like this.

Eggman looked satisfied when Hang Nail backed off and was about to take the fox up himself. Hang Nail saw it as his chance to grab the kid and run. After all, kitsune-less shell or not the fox was still his prey.

The jaguar saw his chance and then went for it! He lunged at Tails with his claws out ready to tear the fox apart when suddenly his vision grew clouded. It took him a few seconds to realize that it wasn't his vision that was clouded but by then it was too late.

Smokestack had succeeded in finally striking Hang Nail dead on. The jaguar was too focused on Tails' body to notice that the commander was still in his presence.

Hang Nail was sent flying just like Sonic. He didn't fly nearly as far as the hedgehog though. He landed nearby in a pile of stone twitching after he realized what had happened.

Eggman, witnessing the attack, looked down to see Smokestack there as well and he was giving Eggman his famous 'I'm totally going to kick your ass' scowl. The doctor smiled and brought back his robot's fist.

"Well if it isn't my old friend… I guess all I can say is… bring it on!!" Eggman brought the robot's fist down at Smoke, which took him by surprise. Even so, the commander dodged backward and barely missed the attack. He worriedly looked over to where the smoke from the resulting impact was to see if Tails had been hit. When enough of the smoke cleared the commander was happy to see that Tails hadn't been harmed.

"I can't let this juggernaut take my kill. I need to lure him away from the fox so he doesn't get his way. Damnit! Why is it always me?" Smoke yelled in frustration as Eggman's robot lashed out his other fist. This time he didn't pause or wait for Smokestack to get his bearings. He just kept punching and punching while the commander continued to jump back so that he could get away from the area.

"Wait a little longer fox! I swear I'll be the one to kill you!" Smoke said as he and the Eggman robot disappeared behind a wall of explosions.

Little did Smokestack know that this was the little fox's big chance for a heavily anticipated escape.

_Coordinates 000: War Zone 6_

Big the cat found it very frustrating to fight and keep up with Smoke at the same time. So much so that he had actually lost track of the commander and found himself mixed up in a seemingly empty pile of ruins.

He could hear cries of pain engulf the area he was in but when he looked around he saw nobody. That changed however when a huge red robot came down from the sky, although to Big and Froggy it looked like out of nowhere, and landed in front of him with it's guns out.

"Sensors indicated a spectator nearby. Executing commands to destroy all spectators." Said the robot with a very boring and on target voice. Big didn't feel like dealing with it so he quickly tried to think of a way out of this.

"I'm no spectator I'm a… uhhhh… I'm a bystander." Big smiled at his lack of creativity. It was sort of funny. The robot however seemed to be taking what Big said into serious consideration and then bleeped out his next response.

"Executing commands to destroy all bystanders now."

"What? Even bystanders?"

"Yes. Even bystanders?"

"Okay then I'm not a bystander! I'm a cowboy!"

"All cowboys are to be destroyed as well."

"… I'm a fishermen."

"Destroy."

"Golfer."

"Destroy."

"Firemen."

"Destroy."

"Lawyer."

"… Hold on… yup even a lawyer!"

"Okay then in that case I'm Eggman's mother!" Big chuckled but stopped when he realized the robot's guns suddenly multiplied and they were all pointed at him.

"WARNING! WARNING! EGGMAN MOTHER ALERT! DESTROY IMMEDIATELY!" It boasted loudly which caught the attention of almost all the robots in the surrounding area. They quickly came to the location and pointed their hulking mass of guns at Big and Froggy.

"WHERE IS THE MOTHER!?" They all shouted in unison.

The cat stood there a bit freaked out by the fact that Eggman would actually put an alert on his robots whenever his mother was said to be nearby. Never the less he knew he had to survive so…

"He's the mother." Big pointed to the robot in front of him with the huge alert on. There was a long silence that followed. Then, all at once it would seem, the robots all fired at the one in front of Big and destroyed it. With it destroyed they called back their guns.

"Mother eradicated." They all said in unison yet again before disappearing behind the rubble they emerged from.

Big stood there for a second amazed at what just happened then decided to continue on. He didn't know just what relationship Eggman and his mom had but after seeing what just took place, he honestly didn't care.

_Coordinates 000: War zone 1_

"Great, I'm finally here." The stealthy jewel thief said as she slipped her way past the G.U.N soldiers and Eggman robots in her way. She was on yet again another mission. This time it was to simply find Smokestack. With this many people around, she wondered if she could pull it off.

"There is so much destruction going on here! Honestly what does a woman have to do in order to stay away from these battles." She may have complained but in all honesty she loved a little adventure. It was only natural that she did her part too.

_Coordinates 000: War zone 7_

"Oh man! That hurt! How come I didn't see that coming?" The battered and bruised hedgehog complained as he fought to get himself up. After dusting himself off he pushed his hands against his back hoping that it would straighten out.

He looked around and saw that he wasn't where Tails was anymore. He knew Smoke had sent him flying a long way but Sonic didn't want to believe that he wasn't anywhere near his friend anymore. The poor guy sighed.

"Guess I should've seen this coming." Sonic saw that he was on the rooftop of a worn out but really tall building. There was a nice view of the action from here. Below him he could see all the explosions, G.U.N soldiers, and robots he wanted. He looked a little farther ahead and saw what looked like a huge castle. It was glowing a dark shade or purple and it easily gave the hedgehog the creeps.

"It's huge… I wonder how far it is… I have been running a lot so it shouldn't be too far away." Sonic could tell just by looking at it that the castle was where he and everyone else fighting this war were headed. He just didn't exactly know why.

What was the story behind what was happening here? How far was everyone here willing to go so that they could reach that castle? What was the significance behind it? Why was he asking himself questions that he knew he couldn't answer?

"I guess I'll find out when I get there. No biggie!" Sonic was about to walk to the other side of the building's rooftop when he heard guns cocking behind him.

"Targeting. Targeting. Attack!" Came the voices of two Eggman robots.

Sonic turned around with his hands on his hips and a small smile plastered on his face. Despite everything that was happening there was one thing that would never change.

"The fact that Eggman knows how to keep the fun going…" Sonic said as he jumped to avoid the shots that rang out at him. Not a second later had he curled into a ball and just as easily took out the robots.

There were huge holes where their brains should be and they lay on the ground electrically sparking in defeat. Sonic looked down at them then noticed something odd. There was something still operational on the robot's chest. It was a big black screen with a huge number on it. He then noticed that the number decreased by two all of a sudden.

That's when Sonic realized what it was.

"This thing must tell Eggman's bots how many people are left standing in this war. Amazing! This number is huge but it's getting smaller and smaller by the second. War sure can be scary." Sonic said to himself.

"That's what happens in battles like this that are often measured in seconds." A deep voice came from behind him. The startled hedgehog dropped the black screen and turned around to face the person who had so rudely eavesdropped on him.

"And what are you suppose to be?" Sonic asked a little annoyed all of a sudden.

"My name is Buru. I take it your Sonic the Hedgehog correct?" Came the voice of the assassin that had the outer exterior of a bull made out of rock.

"… Correct."

"Well then it's a pleasure to meet you. I hope you've prepared yourself."

"Prepared myself? For what?" Sonic asked a bit confused. He quickly got his answer when Buru charged at him like a rabid bull and slammed into the surprised hedgehog's body. Sonic stumbled back and slide across the roof, almost falling off in the process.

"Okay… I get your point…" Sonic winced in pain as Buru merely stood there with a displeased look on his face.

"You're good… any normal person would've died from a hit like that… however, it goes without saying that you wouldn't make it in the army. You're too wild and unpredictable. The army frowns upon that." Buru explained much to the hedgehog's expense.

"No fooling? Cool. I consider myself to good for you stuff shirts anyway."

"That kind of reasoning will surely be your downfall." Was Buru's answer.

"Downfall or not it's how I reason. Besides I've been doing pretty good so far. Now let me guess… you're one of those silent hulking mass destructive types… Am I right?"

"…"

"I'll take that… as a maybe…" Sonic whispered a little displeased by this man's silence. Either way it was about to get wild right where he was standing and that's just the way Sonic liked it.

_Coordinates 000: War Zone 5_

Hang Nail was pissed.

The jaguar was not only the person who was being hit the most but for some reason something always had to come between him and Tails' fight. Well despite being angry he realized that nothing was going to stand in his way now.

Hang Nail made his way back to where Tails was suppose to be. He was itching to rap his claws around the poor kids neck. However, when he got there…

"Where'd he go!? Oh that figures! Trying to run away while I'm not looking eh? We'll see about that ya wussy baby!" Hang Nail said while focusing his new power into locating Tails. During the coarse of the battle Hang Nail had successfully made Tails' powers his. Now all he had to do was locate the fox and…

"Found you!" The jaguar boasted as he slammed through the ruins and made his way toward the area Tails was suppose to be. If this power was as good as Eggman made it out to be then it wouldn't be long before he had Tails' head served on a platter.

_Coordinates 000: War Zone 6_

Tails was surprised by how far he had managed to come considering how many people were out to kill him. He clutched his bleeding chest and hoped that it would close up like it did before. Alas that didn't happen fore Hang Nail had stolen his powers.

"I just need to find a shelter and I'll be safe… If I can just make it out of… here…" Tails wasn't sure if he was about to collapse from blood loss or not but he couldn't continue like this. It was so jolting having to walk in such an injured state. Tails didn't want to keep going but he had to, for his and Sonic's sake.

That's when Tails heard a huge crash nearby. It got louder and louder as it neared his location. Considering the amount of luck Tails had been granted during his trip here he'd say that whatever it was, it was after him.

Tails began to force his body to stride on but it did more damage then good. It wasn't long until what was chasing him finally caught up.

BAM!! A huge gust of power slammed into the ground in front of the scared fox and began to reshape itself. What it reshaped itself into was what scared Tails the most.

"Hang Nail!" Tails yelled in fear as he backed up.

"Sure am! Now how about we finish this! After all we were interrupted before. It's only natural that we should be allowed to end the fight between the two of us." Hang Nail laughed with a crazed look on his face. Tails certainly wasn't amused.

"I… don't understand…" Tails looked Hang Nail over and saw the humungous dark aura that had previously been his. "Why… why do you want to kill me this bad?"

"I thought I told ya why! It's because of you that our island was destroyed! It's your fault Slips and Silt are dead!"

"No it isn't! Eggman killed them not me!"

"I already know that!"

"Then why are you working for him?!"

"I already told you! Instead of blaming the egghead I blamed you because I figured that if I took out the source of everyone's problems than everyone who hated you on that island could rest in peace knowing that the reason Eggman killed them is dead." Hang Nail explained while taking a few nerve wrecking steps toward Tails.

"I'm… I'm not the cause of everyone's problems!"

"Ya sure about that? Cause the war dat's takin place here says different!"

"Shut up!"

"Or you'll what? You gonna cry again two-tail!"

"Stop calling me that!" Tails was clenching his fists in anger. Hang Nail was just so annoying!

"Man you're dumb! I've got all your powers and you still choose to order me around! What the hell is wrong with you!?" Hang Nail asked feeling really proud of himself. He was happy that he wasn't a baby like Tails.

"You're… the dumb one… why can't you see that what you're doing is wrong?"

"Because it isn't wrong! It's just what I do! Besides you're the dumb one! At least I know how to tell the truth when it comes to telling people of my true feelings."

"… What?"

"Don't pretend you don't know! All the people back on that island… everyone there… they all hated you… and you hated them too. Didn't you!"

"…"

"That's why you were so happy when you and Sonic left. Not only did you find the only idiot on this planet who liked you but everyone who had picked on you and neglected you were finally dead!"

"… No I…"

"That's why you hide how you really feel. You pretend to care about them and say that your sorry for what happened but in reality you couldn't be happier that they all died could ya!"

"Shut up."

"Admit it! You wanted them all dead but were too kind and wussy to accept it."

"Shut up! That isn't true! I… I tried to warn them but…"

"You only did that so you could feel better about hating them. Believe me! I know a lot when it comes to despising others."

"… You don't know anything about me!"

"So ya say! But I know more than enough! That is after all how I was able to get your powers!"

Tails didn't know what else to say. He couldn't counterattack at all. All he could do was just… die.

With Hang Nail thinking Tails no longer had anything else to say he began charging up his body. His metal legs and his metal left arm began to glow a bright red and steam soon emerged from the jaguar's body.

"If that's all ya gonna say den lets finish dis!"

Tails stood there with his head down. Was this it? He didn't have anything left. He couldn't fight anymore and his vision was blurry from all the blood that he was losing. Meanwhile, Hang Nail had all of his power at his disposal. It was over. It was hopeless.

"Sonic… I… did everything I could… but… I can't win… I'm sorry…"

Hang Nail was done charging up and he was about ready to strike. Tails continued to stand there with a look of despair on his face. It truly was over.

Tails started to have flashbacks about how he and Sonic first met. He found himself crying and chuckling at the same time. Never in his life had he imagined meeting someone as nice as Sonic. Because of Bear Mayor, Hang Nail, and everyone else on that island he easily lost faith in himself. But Sonic showed him that he should never give up hope if you were still alive and able to fight. Never give up hope just like…

"… Just like I'm doing right now…" Tails whispered to himself. Not but a second later had Hang Nail shot his entire body straight out at Tails. Hang Nail's fist was about to connect when Tails shouted out something that surprised Hang Nail.

"Punch Hang Nail in the face!" He yelled. Suddenly the confused jaguar stopped dead in his tracks, pulled back his fist, and punched himself in the face!

Hang Nail fell to the ground and grabbed at his now bleeding nose.

"W-what! What did you do?" Hang Nail didn't get it. Why'd he do that to himself!

" I was so afraid to die I had forgotten what it was that I did to defeat Karst when he took my kitsune powers!" Tails remarked as he looked up at Hang Nail with a huge grin on his face.

"What are you talking about?"

"Back when Karst took my powers I figured out that since it was still _my_ power I could still control it! I had Karst punch himself in the face too you know!" Tails was smiling gleefully now. He remembered his fight with Karst at just the right time.

"Arrgh! Damnit! You… little… I'm gonna kill you!" Hang Nail got up and was about to charge again when Tails called out to his powers yet again.

"Now punch him in his stomach!" Tails shouted and Hang Nail did as he was told and struck himself in the stomach.

He bent over in pain as the power he had accumulated for himself was so easily turning on him.

"Punch him in his stomach again!"

Hang Nail did.

"Now in his face again!"

Hang Nail did as well. Tails started to laugh as Hang Nail began to bleed and whimper in pain as he continued. That's when Tails took it a step further.

"Now in between his legs!"

"WHAT!!" Hang Nail tried to stop himself but he couldn't control it anymore. He landed an extremely hard punch in his privet parts, which caused him to fall to the ground in tremendous pain.

"Again! Again! And Again!" The excited and cheery fox yelled as Hang Nail delivered three more punches to his private area.

Tails stopped then fell to the ground in laughter. He had always wanted to do that to Hang Nail but had never been given a decent opportunity to. This was such a lucky day all of a sudden!

Hang Nail; however, was more then less than amused. He stood up slowly with his hands covering his crotch and winced in pain as he faced his target.

"HOW DARE YOU DO THAT TO ME!! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? DAMNIT!!"

Tails let his laughter reduce to a small chuckle as he stood up to meet Hang Nail face to face. One face was wincing from the pain while the other was trembling and trying to hold back his laughter.

"You think that's funny eh? You think you can do somethin' like dat ta me and get away with it! Huh!? Do ya!?"

Tails didn't answer. If he tried to he would've let all his laugher escape. Tails had never felt so dominate in his life! It felt sweet!

Hang Nail began to contemplate his next move. He found it very hard to think of one with his crotch hurting so badly and the idea that Tails had control over his power drilling at his brain.

_'Even so… he may be able to control my power… but I can still control it as well… I guess I have no choice! I need to end this quick before he can control me again!'_

"So Hang Nail, should we keep going!" Tails asked with obvious confidence.

"..."

"… Hang Nail?"

"HEHEHEHH! HAHAHAHAHAH!! I've got it! I know what to do now!" He began laughing like a maniac as he held his hands out at Tails. He began to draw up all his power into both of his arms while Tails stood there with a confused look on his face.

"Whatever you're planning to do… I'll just stop you before you can do it!" Tails declared as sweat began to roll down the side of his face. Something told him that doing that was going to be easier said then done.

"I know what to do now! Just try and stop me two-tail!" Hang Nail boasted as he continued to charge up both his mechanical arm and his non-mechanical arm. Tails was ready. He was about to open his mouth to say something but then stopped.

Out of nowhere Tails felt an enormous pressure being put on his body. The strain was quickly becoming unbearable and he fell to his knees in agony.

"What… what's going on?"

"HA! I knew it! You fell for it!" The jaguar shouted clearly proud of himself.

"Wh-what are you talking about? What did you do?"

"Heheheh! I'm amazed you don't get it what with that huge brain of yours. I figured out that since our powers are linked and that you're able to control my body… that I'm able to control yours as well."

"What… N-no… let me go." Tails grabbed his head in pain as Hang Nail kept putting more pressure on it.

"It's useless. Just like before, when I couldn't attack because you had control over me, you can't attack because I have control over you! Boy I'm sure glad it works both ways! Too bad Karst couldn't figure that out. He'd probably still be alive if he did!" Hang Nail said while increasing his spiritual pressure on Tails' mind.

Tails began to cry out in pain. There was so much pressure on his head! He couldn't bare it any longer!

"Yeah that's right! Cry! Cry like the baby you are!" Hang Nail was satisfied with the way things were going now. All he had to do was keep Tails like this long enough for him to win.

'_Okay, now that the fox is down I need to fire this charged attack. I've been saving it up for long enough. It may cost me a lot of power but I don't have much choice but to use it. The second I let him go he's free to stop my attack. I've got to make sure it hits him dead on or I'm screwed!'_ Hang Nail began to sweat. Never in his life had he imagined that Tails would actually make him struggle.

"I… I know what… you're trying to do… it won't work…" Tails said in obvious pain.

"Err! You shut your mouth!"

"If… you fire that blast at me… then you'll not only waste more than half your power… b-but… you'll injure yourself too!" Tail struggled to get out.

"Yeah right! You're bluffing! The metal on me is strong enough to survive the recoil of the blast! The only one who's going to get hurt is you! Now die like a good baby!"

Tails struggled to gain control over his body again but found it almost impossible. Even so, he wouldn't allow himself to give up. Giving up after making it this far was out of the question!

Both of Hang Nail's hands were out and the charging was complete. It was time to fire Hang Nail's new attack.

"Now! Fire! **Surudoi Assault** _**blast**_!" Hang Nail shouted as his glowing arms fired a huge red power blast straight out at Tails' subdued body.

Tails saw a huge bright red light come out at him. He knew he had to dodge. But he couldn't move! It was getting closer and he couldn't move!

"I won't give up. I will not give up!" Tails shouted as the blast made its way toward him. It was too late for Tails to dodge it. Even if it wasn't he wasn't able to move. He was stuck. There was only one thing he could do…

Hang Nail watched as the blast hit Tails dead on. A huge explosion of red light met Hang Nail's excited gaze. He did it! Hang Nail finally got rid of the pest!

"I may not have done it the way I wanted to but… all that matters is that he's dead now! Which also means his power is mine! It's all mine now!"

The jaguar began laughing at his victory over the fox that had caused him so much pain in what he called his 'baby-producing factory.'

"HAHAHAH! Finally! You're finally dead! Finally, finally dead! HAHAH!!" Hang Nail had to hold his head in order to keep his laughing under control. The black smoke was clearing and he was sure that nothing would be there.

Needless to say it disappointed him to see Tails still there.

"That blast should've obliterated his body… don't tell me…"

"Hey… Hang Nail…" Tails said as he sat on his knees with his hands out just like Hang Nail's hands had been. He was huffing and puffing and it goes without saying that he was dirty but he was in fact very much alive!

"What did you do!? How could you have-?"

"I did what you did. I held out my hands and since it was my power I was able to suck it back into my body! Pretty cool right?"

Hang Nail was speechless. He couldn't believe this. He just wasted half his power just so the fox could take it from him. This wasn't fair! The red veins in Hang Nail' eyes looked as if they were going to sprout and take over his pupils. His teeth were clenched so hard against each other that he could've sworn that they had cracked a bit.

"There's… just no way… You shouldn't have… been able to move!"

"But I did…"

"Cut the crap! CUT IT! I'm not taking this from you anymore! I don't care about slowly killing you for fun anymore! I just want you to DIE ALREADY!!" Hang Nail said while throwing both his arms up again.

Tails was surprised to see him do this. Was he crazy?

"Hey wait a minute! What are you doing?" Tails looked a little creeped out by what lengths Hang Nail was going

"Shut up! I'll kill you!" The jaguar didn't listen.

That's when he felt it. His non-mechanical arm literally began to painfully twist. The bones in his arm broke apart and almost turned to dust. His arm turned red this time because the blood in it was pushing up against his skin trying to break out and not because he was powering up.

"ARRGH! WHAT THE HELL!! MY ARM!!" The jaguar shouted as he grabbed at it in pain. Tails looked on in fear. He knew the recoil would be bad but…

"I… tried to warn you… your mechanical limbs might be able to take the recoil but your regular ones…"

"Be quiet! Don't… lecture me on how to use my power you… ARRGH! DAMNIT!!"

Tails wasn't sure if it was pity he was feeling for Hang Nail or not but if I was it quickly went away when Hang Nail did what he did next.

"Fine! I'll just kill you with my feet! Since they're both mechanical I've got nothin' ta worry about!" Hang Nail said immediately charging all of his remaining power into his legs. Immediately they began to glow bright red and steam jetted from below his feet.

Tails didn't want to admit it but he was right. Right or not he wasn't going to give up on this fight.

"If you think you can… then go for it… Prissy!"

"I told you not to call me- Errrr!" Hang Nail almost lost it again but then quickly bit his hand. Tails watched as blood dripped from Hang Nail's hand on to the ground.

'_I need to calm down… just calm down…'_ He said to himself as he took his hand away.

"Okay… you asked for it… even though I was gonna give it to you even if you didn't ask…"

Tails gulped and readied himself.

"All right… Here I come Two-tail!" Hang Nail jumped off the ground, with his legs literally radiating, and shot himself down at Tails. The fox quickly dodged to the side letting Hang Nail slam into the ground and pull up the dirt.

Despite his dodging, Tails was sent flying into one of the walls of the buildings surrounding them. Tails fell to the ground and was about to rub his back from the pain when he saw Hang Nail fly at him yet again. The jaguar made his way toward the fox with his heated legs and once again He rammed into the buildings and sent stones flying everywhere.

Tails rolled a bit and stopped himself. He panted and tried to regain control over himself. Throughout all the excitement Tails had forgotten that he had been seriously injured before. The open wound on his chest and the blood slowly seeping out of it should've been enough to inform Tails that he had to end this fight quickly or else he'd keel over.

He was lucky that it was. Tails began drawing out a plan to try and defeat Hang Nail. It would've been easy if his vision would just focus long enough for him to get enough information on his surrounding area in order to make it work.

"Take this!" Hang Nail yelled as he came down on Tails again. This time the fox dived forward and ran to the pile of stones that had accumulated when Hang Nail had crashed into the building that was previously there.

That's when it hit Tails. He looked down at the stones that were there then quickly looked across to the area where Hang Nail's radiated feet had landed. As expected a huge pile of stones were there as well.

"…I think… I have an idea but… I need to get my timing right for it to work." Tails whispered to himself. Hang Nail quickly jumped from the area he was at and came down at Tails again.

"Damn you! Stay in one place already!" Hang Nail was clearly to frustrated to actually consider thinking up a plan. He was going to continue to do the same thing over and over, which helped Tails more than it did Hang Nail.

He landed behind the pile of stone Tails was in front of and the fox hurriedly ran toward the pile of stone that Hang Nail had just created. When Hang Nail landed the huge flaming shockwave he created pushed all the stones toward Tails' direction. They landed just before they reached him luckily.

"That was a little too close. My plan can't work if I'm crushed."

"Gotcha now!" Hang Nail was coming down again. It had taken less time than his first jump. Tails quickly got himself moving again. So that Hang Nail landed behind the piles of stones and created another shockwave that caused them to huddle together next to the other stones.

Tails just smiled to himself. "It's working."

Tails continued this process until an amazing pile of stones was piled up together. Hang Nail had finally stopped his excessive jumping around so that he could take in a deep breath.

"I keep hopping around but I'm not getting anywhere." Hang Nail looked over at Tails and saw the fox climb up on the pile of stone that had accumulated over the coarse of Hang Nail's jumping.

Once Tails had climbed to the top he dusted his legs off then began the final roots of his plan.

"Hey Hang Nail! What's wrong! Is your stamina less than a wussy four-year-old fox! What does that make you huh?" Tails insulted Hang Nail, which took a lot of muster for him to bring up in order for him to do. As expected the jaguar quickly grew angry.

"WHAT… DID … YOU… SAY TO ME!!" Hang Nail turned to face Tails dead on. The jaguar looked like a mess. He was sweaty and his fur was matted together. His eyes twitched from anger and pain at the same time. His left arm was a wreck to say the least. And to top it all off, throughout this entire thing… Tails only had three claw marks on his stomach to show for their fight!

Tails sensed Hang Nail's disapproval of how the situation had progressed but knew full well that there was nothing he could do about it now. He had plenty of chances to take Tails out and be done with it but because of his gloating and self-proclaimed dominance over him he ended up like this.

Tails was letting everything ride on Hang Nail's next move. It would be the worst possible time for the jaguar to suddenly grow a brain and attack with a strategy.

Meanwhile Hang Nail began thinking about how it came to this. When he was back on the island he wasn't even a half-robot and even then he still excelled in strength and speed compared to Tails. He was only a baby fox after all. It seemed only natural.

But somehow here he is! He's actually in worse shape than the fox. Here he is stronger than he was back on the island and somehow he was losing to the fox while he wasn't even in his kitsune form! It seemed straight up impossible! It made Hang Nail angry just thinking about it!

"You… you… It's … It's because of you that … I'll never use my left arm again…"

"Your wrong you stupid bully." Tails said with a serious look on his face. It made Hang Nail want to puke. The way he could just all of a sudden stand up to him like this baffled him.

"Excuse me… how am I wrong?"

"You brought everything that happened here on yourself! It's your fault that arm can never be used again and if you think differently than… than you're just a crybaby!"

"Crybaby?"

"Yeah! A crybaby who blames things that he doesn't like on someone else!" Tails was sweating bullets as he said those words. He knew there was no turning back so he finally decided to spill out how he really thought of Hang Nail right here and now!

"… You're calling me a crybaby? Since when do you have the balls to-?"

"You're also a bad liar when it comes to food! You teeth look awful! And you smell like socks! And when I first saw you I miss took you for a cow because I thought they were the only animals with spots on their bodies at the time…" Tails admitted.

Hang Nail didn't care why he would say those things now out of all times but he was insulted just the same.

"Talk all you want! It doesn't change who you are! Your just a loser who got lucky when he met the idiotic former hero of this boring planet!"

"… You're the loser… I actually have a friend… I mean _friends... _who like me for who I am… you've got nothing like that now because you were a big mean bully!"

"Only to you ya freak!"

"So what! When everyone died after Eggman destroyed the island I found new friends! You didn't! I got stronger while you sold your body parts to Eggman so you could _feel _stronger! **I'm gonna win this fight! Not you!** **That's why you're the loser!"** Tails shouted in a clearly angered tone.

A long silence between them followed.

'_That … felt … GREAT!'_ Tails thought in his head. It was so awesome that he could finally tell Hang Nail off all he wanted.

Hang Nail completely lost it after Tails had said those words.

"… That's it… I've taken your lip for about as long as I can handle … I swear … I'll kill you and when I do I'll dance on your corpse than steal your left arm for myself! That's the only option you have! The option of ending up a lifeless corpse! YOU'RE DEAD TWO TAIL!!"

Tails stood his ground and watched as Hang Nail charged up his feet to the max.

_'I won't be beat… not by this submissive crybaby…'_ Hang Nail thought as he recalled all those times back on the island.

All those times where he completely dominated the fox! All those times he had humiliated him and treated him like a baby! All those times he beat him up mercilessly!

They had all led to this point! He was determined for his final fight with Tails to end like it began; with Tails being the loser!

_'I won't be beat…'_ Hang Nail repeated in his head as Tails braced himself.

_'… Not by this crybaby…'_ His legs began to radiate heat to it's extreme.

_'… Not by this loser…'_ Hang Nail bent down while Tails focused his eyes on the jaguar. They both knew that this was it!

_'I defidently won't be beat…' _Hang Nail literally blasted himself off the ground and launched himself over Tails and his pile of stone.

'… _**I won't be beat! NOT BY HOMELESS TWO TAIL!!' **_

Hang Nail sent shot his body down towards Tails; attempting to create the biggest crater he possibly could where the fox stood.

Tails immediately freaked out when he saw how fast Hang Nail was coming at him. He flailed around the stones a bit before running away from them. It was too close!

Luckily Tails was able to make it out of Hang Nail's way as the jaguar slammed into the pile of stone. The shockwave that resulted was in a word, unpleasant.

Tails found the forceful gust of cool wind crash against his body and felt as it sent his body crashing through a building.

The impact could be heard miles away and it was a good thing too. Somewhere on a rooftop fighting a huge bull-like man, a certain blue hedgehog's ears twitched. He all of a sudden knew that wherever that explosion came from there was something important there. He just didn't know what.

After a few minutes of heavy smoke and the sound of heat fizzling, Tails recovered from the piles of stone he had crashed into and stood up. After dusting himself off he looked over at the area where Hang Nail was and silently prayed that his plan had worked.

Maybe asking that he lived and that his plan had worked was a bit of a stretch but he'd be dead if it didn't work so…

Tails came up on the area and looked down. The stone that he had tricked Hang Nail into accumulating together had turned to molten rock. Not only that but because of the force of the impact the molten rock was rapidly solidifying.

"Wow… my kitsune powers sure know how to get the job done… I just hope…" Tails took a few more cautious steps into the heavy smoke that had almost completely cleared.

When the smoke finally did. Tails' jaw dropped… and soon after a grin appeared on his face.

Hang Nail coughed as the black smoke made it's way past him and then disappeared completely. He looked ahead of himself and saw Tails standing there with a weird grin on his face.

"What are you grinning at Two-Tail! I'm obviously not done yet! Just wait till I get-" Hang Nail tried to move his legs but something was wrong. He couldn't move his legs. Hang Nail was confused until he looked down and saw his current position.

"My legs… and that stone… they're…"

The jaguar was completely freaked out to see that his metal legs had melted into a liquid that quickly fused with the stone and solidified! His legs had melted around the stone and he was now apart of the ground! He couldn't move!

"I'm stuck! My legs won't move! This-This isn't happening!" Hang Nail suddenly realized why that grin on Tails' face looked so weird. It was grin he thought he'd never see on the fox's face.

On his face, Tails was wearing an evil grin!

Hang Nail began to sweat as he realized what this meant. He was trapped! He could no longer fight while Tails was free to do anything he wanted to him! Anything!

Tails' evil grin widened. He'd never been so satisfied in his life! Seeing Hang Nail like this was simply too amazing to possibly be true! But it was true!

How ironic it was that Hang Nail's metal upgrade was what led to his downfall!

Tails began to walk up close to Hang Nail with the huge grin still on his face. Hang Nail began to sweat as the fox got closer.

"Wh-what do you think your doing?" Hang Nail's voice showed obvious worry. Tails couldn't be any happier that it did.

"I'm going to do what I've always wanted to do ever since I met you!" Tails' usual kindhearted demeanor had disappeared. To him Hang Nail was just a jaguar shaped punching bag now.

"W-wait! Hold on!"

"For what! You're not scared are you? You gonna cry?"

"I-I…"

"Who's the loser now? I was right you were just a big crybaby after all!"

"Please j-just l-let me go! I promise I won't bother you again! Really!" Hang Nail didn't even try to keep his tough guy act going anymore. He was at Tails' mercy now! Nothing was going to change that.

"HAHAHAH! You're funny! Thinking that I'd let a chance like this pass by after all the bad stuff you did to me is stupid even for you ya big crybaby bully!" Tails knew being teased by someone so many years younger than you had to be humiliating which, of coarse, was why he was doing it.

"N-no! Please stop! I take everything back! I'm sorry! I mean it!" Hang Nail didn't want this. He had nothing to boast about anymore! He was reduced to begging for it was the only choice he had. However, Tails had no intention of listening to any of his begging. He always knew that Hang Nail had been hiding his true self behind his bullying exterior. Finally it showed and even though it would be cool if every kid on that island were here to see this, Tails had no regrets because it only mattered if HE witnessed it.

"I hope you're ready!" Tails said as he began delivering what he called his _payback_!

In short Tails began to beat the scared crap out of Hang Nail.

He didn't stop until he was sure it had been more than 30 minutes of this pain. When Tails finally stopped beating on him he looked the jaguar over and saw how completely messed up he looked. His arm was no longer useable and his legs were melted into the ground. His face was bruised from Tails' punches and his eyes…

"Oh my goodness! I can't believe it! Hang Nail's actually crying!" Tails watched as the jaguar began to fidget in anger. Tears had indeed escaped his eyes during the coarse of Tails' beating and he couldn't even express how humiliating it was.

Usually when Tails saw someone in this condition he would feel sorry for them but in this case…

"HAHAHAHAH! Guess that makes you the crybaby!" Tails' teasing was merciless and with each word he spoke the more flustered Hang Nail got.

"ERRR! Please! Just help me out! Let me go! I'm sorry for everything I did just let me go!!" Hang Nail's begging was both amusing and annoying to Tails. The fox knew for a fact that he wasn't sorry for anything that he had done throughout the coarse of this thing. He just wanted to be let free so he could betray him and find someone else to pick on to make himself feel better about the fact that **he **was the real crybaby.

"No! I won't let you go! You don't deserve to be let go! You'll just hurt more people! I won't let that happen!" Tails said as he jumped up into the air and allowed his evil grin to resurface.

"Wh-what are you doing!" Hang Nail began to struggle as he saw Tails fly directly above his head.

"I'm gonna knock you out so bad that you won't ever want to move from there again!"

"You're gonna do what?"

Tails curled himself into a ball like he'd seen Sonic do so many times and let himself rocket toward Hang Nail. All the while Hang Nail had been struggling and trying to force his way out of the ground.

"WAIT! STOP! I'M SORRY!! REALLY!! I PROMISE I WON'T DO IT AGAIN!! PLEASE STOP!!"

Tails ignored all of Hang Nail's cries as he came down on the jagaur. Before he collided against Hang Nail's head he uncurled himself and let his foot drop down and slam hard against the top of the pleading jaguar's head, which quickly silenced him. Tails couldn't help but let all of his excitement escape.

"PAYBACK … TASTES … **DELICIOUS!! **

_That was longer than the other chapters wasn't it? I hope you all enjoyed it! Please review and tell me how you liked it!_


	36. Chapter 36

_I think that the last chapter was a satisfying way to continue the war. Let's all get back to it then, shall we?_

**Silver Sheilds:** I don't think a kick in the head would be enough to kill someone but I guess you'll find out now.

**BlackxShootingxStar:** Actually I've remembered all those wounds. I've mentioned though that whenever Tails goes into his kitsune form all his wounds heal. As for Sonic, the guy he fought attacked with lightning so there shouldn't be any puncture or gash wounds. At least I don't remember writing any in. It's incredibly hard to keep up with how many wounds a certain character gets when a story goes on for so long and has a large amount of characters. If I make any more mistakes feel free to inform me so I can improve in the next chapter. Oh, and as for Knux… well you'll see.

**Shinju the Rabbit:** I assure you any character I kill is gone for GOOD. I don't particularly like it when reused bad guys come back to life.

**Kitsune-SuperFox:** I sort of did go off what you said but it was a more spur of the moment thing. Also I'm glad you thought Prissy getting his ass kicked was so hilarious! I love it when my readers are pleased. Also, I read your story and I like it! It just needs some spelling and grammar fine-tuning and then you're all set!

**Sparktimus: **Cool! My story is a ride minus the displeasing vomit at the end. That's amazing!

**Raziel777:** It was pretty fast now that I think about it. Do you honestly think that it's a good thing it went past thirty chapters? Sometimes I wonder but I don't regret any of the chapters I've written. I'm glad the chapters were climatic and the dialogue was dramatic. Being told something like that really gets me going! I also think you're right about finding an appropriate punishment for Hang Nail. After so many chapters you'd think I'd have thought up something creative. I wish other Tails fans could read this story as well.

**tailsim:** It's hard for me to describe my scenes. I try my best but sometimes my imagination gets so hyper that I end up with scenes that are impossible to describe without some confusion present. Thanks for the advice though.

**Skychick:** Hang Nail's life is pretty much ruined. With no friends, family, use of one of his arms, melted legs, and no way of moving from the spot he's at I'd say he's pretty much done. Thanks for reviewing!

**Shala the Hedgehog:** I hate thinking up words so I just use whatever comes to mind at the last second. It seems to have worked so far!

**Chapter 35: Tails' decisions; Which enemy do I help?**

**_During the thirty minutes that Tails had been busy with Hang Nail a considerably large amount of soldiers and robots had been destroyed. It won't take long for the number of people in the fight to stray from the millions down to the thousands. The castle that everyone had been heading toward was getting closer and closer to basically everyone. The order of the people from the closest to the castle to the farthest from it is as follows:_**

**War Zone 15** - It would seem that both Eggman's robots and the G.U.N soldiers have the castle within their reach. They seem to be coming up on the castle by the hundreds while numerous battles take place elsewhere.

**War Zone 12**- Shoui and her group have advanced quite a distance. With very little distractions getting in their way it won't be long before she reaches her destination. Bocoe and Decoe and their group are a little ways behind Shoui.

**War Zone 7** - A little further back Sonic and Buru are fighting alone on a rooftop over looking many explosions and armed participants.

**War Zone 6** - Even more back Smokstack has almost succeeded in distancing himself from Eggman and Bokkun. Big the cat is a little farther back from them.

**War Zone 5** - Next is Tails and the defeated jaguar, Hang Nail

**War Zone 3 **- And finally Rouge and Metal Sonic are basically in the same area. They have yet to cross paths.

Not much time or people remain and a certain cloaked deity is aware if it all.

Darkness was the last to slowly make his way into Coordinates 000. He said nothing and thought nothing as he entered. He was too flustered and angry to do either.

_Coordinates 000: War Zone 3_

"I can go… by myself! Fly in the Freedom! Time never stop and wait for me. Looking for answers and looking for the clue…" Rouge sung while she trotted along the dry soil of the tip of the planet.

It was pretty boring just being in a dusty place like this by herself but there was absolutely nothing she could do about that at a time like this. Smokestack was probably a wreck without her.

"Imagine that headstrong commander a wreck! HA! Hilarious just imagining it!" Rouge was suddenly feeling extremely giddy. That was at least until she heard a small noise coming from behind the building beside her.

Normally a small noise would mean very little to her and she'd usually dismiss it as an unimportant annoyance to her supersonic ears. However, in a messed up place like this, there was no way she was going to take any chances.

The bat quickly jumped on the building's roof and looked over the edge. What she found was something she'd never had expected herself to see.

A robotic blue hedgehog with something shining in his hands was in her line of sight. On closer inspection Rouge saw what the object was.

"A chaos emerald!" She shouted with amazement not even considering whether or not the robot was listening.

"Yes it is. I believe you have one as well bat." The metal figure spoke with such silent malice that it made Rouge's skin crawl.

"I might have one…"

"You do, stuffed in your bra correct."

"… What are you some kinda x-ray sex offender hedgehog bot? Because if you are then Eggman's more screwed up than I thought."

"Hmph."

"Well, whatever. All I care about is that emerald. I suggest you hand it to me before I decide to take it by force. Oh and in case you didn't know when I get forceful people start to dent. You know what I mean?"

"…"

"Well?"

"… Slut."

"Why thank you. I'm not there yet considering I'm only 13 but I've been told many times that I'd make a perfect one of those. How about I get a little closer so you can examine my features." Rouge jumped off of the small building and lashed out her foot at metal.

"…" The robot just stared at her with his still red eyes.

"Let's start with my boots!" Rouge landed a successful kick on Metal's head. It wasn't long before Rouge realized that the strange robot didn't even flinch.

Rouge quickly got annoyed and began slamming both her feet against Metal Sonic's head. The robot continued to remain in the same spot with his eyes locked on to the irritated bat.

Eventually the silent robot grabbed her outstretched leg and held her in place. Rouge gritted her teeth in anger as a drop of unnoticeable sweat slid down her frustrated face. For a short while Metal Sonic said nothing than he spoke in his bland metallic voice.

"Nice boobs."

"Too late for flattery! I'm already pissed!"

"My dictionary doesn't have that word in its banks for some reason… I heard it on one of my scouting missions… I'm guessing that it's a street term for breasts."

All the while Metal was talking Rouge was struggling to break free. The robot had an insane grip! He didn't even have to struggle to keep her in place.

"But then again why I'm bringing this up is even beyond me…hmmm... perhaps it's time I acquired another certain something for my collection while I'm at this." With that Metal Sonic slammed the bat onto the dirt with a huge thud. Rouge didn't move. She couldn't move!

"My body… what did you do…" Rouge's voice showed signs of a struggling breath.

"When you hit the ground I sent a small jolt through your body. It happened at the same exact moment your nerves reacted to the pain of being hit against the dirt. Now you can't move." Metal Sonic explained which made Rouge growl at him. The robot clearly didn't care, however.

"Now, shall we go?" Metal didn't even wait for an answer as he began to drag the bat's body across the ground toward his destination.

_Coordinates 000: War Zone 7_

Sonic was punched into the hard roof of the musty building once again after barely recovering from another one of Buru's head on assaults. He plopped on the ground and rolled until he skidded to an abrupt halt.

"I swear… I'll bet anything that this guys' just rocks and skin…" Sonic slowly forced his tired body up. This all seemed ridiculous to him. They had been at it for over a half an hour and they both seemed to be in the same battered condition.

Sonic noticed, however, that Buru was certainly an expert at concealing his wounds. Sonic couldn't help but smile. He'd seen this kind of determination before. It was a shame he had to end this so quickly.

"Are you just about done hedgehog? The games are starting to bore me." Buru stood there with minimal cuts and bruises on his hard skin. His straight face would make any other person facing him want to grieve by how unaffected their attacks were on this man. Luckily for Sonic he didn't care how his face looked. He could tell that Buru was a lot more tired than he was.

"Really? You certainly look like the kind of guy who wouldn't hesitate to play naked twister with his roommate." Sonic clutched his arm as he uttered the disgusting comment.

Buru seemed to look Sonic over and sighed.

"Sorry but the jokes don't affect me."

"Yeah, I pretty much figured that."

"I'm guessing you also realize how low you've become during the coarse of this fight."

Sonic twisted his face up as a means of pretending he was thinking it over really hard.

"Nope. Not really."

"It'd be best to cut the attitude. I can tell just by the way you look that you won't be able to go on much longer. My attacks are too much on any body, even yours hedgehog. The way you're breathing, wincing, and holding your arm tells me that you're at your peak. You won't be able to dodge my next attack."

" … "

"Your silence insures me that I'm correct. You use your cockiness and smug outer exterior to blind your opponent from the obvious pain that you feel when you're dealt a decisive blow to a vital point on your body. It's sad how such a previously well-respected hero icon of the public has to hide his true self from the world because of a bloated ego. You have my pity. That alone isn't enough to save you from my next attack though."

" … "

"Look at your silence. I guess I'm hitting the mark aren't I. Is it that unbearable to face your shame?"

"…I guess… your right… I've lost…" Sonic's voice sounded like it was filled with a huge amount of dread.

"Hmph. Indeed you have. I'll end this now. Your too weak to dodge my next attack."

"You're right… I am too weak to dodge it… damnit!" Sonic sounded worried.

Buru charged straight at the hedgehog with amazing speed and his fist pulled back. Just like Buru had predicted Sonic didn't move from his spot. He brought his fist forward and jabbed it at the hedgehog's body.

"It's over…!"

**SWISH!!**

"What!" Buru saw his fist and what it had connected with was a bunch of air. The bull-like assassin grew scared as he realized what the 'swish' he had heard a while ago meant. He slowly turned his head to the side to see Sonic sliding his feet around Buru's body and slamming his fist across the assassins face.

Buru flew far across the roof and slammed into the black cement of the building with an amazing thud. Sonic stood there with a huge chuckling grin on his face for a long while until he finally decided to speak the obvious reason he was laughing.

"SIKE!! HAHAHAHAH!! Oh man! You should've seen your face. I was like 'Oh no you're right I am a loser' and then you we like 'Yay I win' and then I was like 'Not today sucker' and then you were like 'oh no he can still fight'!" Sonic was grabbing his chest from how much he was laughing. He couldn't believe that G.U.N assassins were this gullible.

Buru, to say the least, was pretty pissed off. He struggled to his feet while panting and growling at the hedgehog for being the first one since his life began to make him look like a fool. Buru's serious face and amazing posture was what made him such an intimidating figure.

However, it didn't take the hedgehog long at all to take that and shred it to pieces. Sonic certainly was a master at pissing people off!

"I'm a great actor aren't I?" Sonic was still chuckling.

"Shut up!"

"Aww, what's the matter? Are you mad that everything you said turned out to be complete B.S?" Sonic didn't even try to stop his laughter.

"I said be quiet!"

"Seriously though! You and your talking! It's just BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH over and over again! When are you smart types going to realize that I don't care how the bones crack when pressure is applied or that something that sinks in water can also float if you get it jacked up on helium or whatever. I fight to win and I carry that tradition on here."

"But you…"

"I what? Oh I get it! You're confused now that I've not only dodged your attack but also knocked you senseless eh? Okay then. Allow me to explain using what I call 'The awesome hedgehog encyclopedia of non-boring awesomeness!' okay!" Sonic cleared his throat playfully and smugly continued. "You iz (Is with a 'z') a non-supersonic hedgehog with the only thing going for him being his rocky skin and bull-like exterior. Me iz a supersonic hedgehog with quills sharp enough to tear solid metal. Get it now!"

"Not really! No! Your body should still be too weak to fight. You're vital points can't be that rock solid! There's just no possible way a creature like you should exist!"

Sonic was disrespectfully picking his ear while Buru spoke. This guy sure was a pain to listen to.

"Well guess what. Like it or not I do exist and believe it or not I have some place much more worth my time to be. I can tell that everything that you were accusing me of was ironically what was happening to your body. I know you were trying oh so hard to hide the fact that you were hurting behind your unrealistic posture and serious facial features but incase I haven't made it painfully clear throughout the coarse of this fight it should be noted that you'd have to wake up pretty early in the morning in order to trick me with some old…"

"What are you accusing me of exactly?" Buru's tone told Sonic that he wasn't in any mood for this. Sonic was tiredly rubbing his fingers together and decided to speak again.

"Not so much accusing, more like calling you out. I know that you, being a high on the food chain G.U.N agent, would never admit it but you're in a much worse state than I am. I'm afraid you might break if we continue this any longer."

"How dare someone like you be little me?!"

"You can stop with the calm attitude. Just relax! Take the deep breath you've been holding in for so long. I know you're just being an uptight bastard."

Buru was starting to lose control over his usual demeanor. Never in his life had he met such an annoying animal! Sonic didn't care and allowed himself to continue.

"It's been fun tricking and humiliating you but I think it's time I finished this and caught up with my friend. I don't regret fighting you though. You've taught me a valuable lesson."

"…And what… exactly what that be…" Buru's twitching eyebrow told Sonic that whatever he said next would decide the fate of Buru's sanity. Sonic had to be careful for the sake of this man's health!

"It's… that G.U.N agents… are total SUCKERS!" Sonic laughed as he held up both his chaos emeralds. He knew he shouldn't have done that but it was just to irresistible! Guess Buru's health is less sustainable then Sonic's fun.

As expected, by both Sonic and Buru, the angry assassin charged directly at Sonic.

"I'll hit you with my strongest rock skin attack!" Buru said as his body started to glow a bright gray.

"That's fine with me. It's you against two chaos emeralds and me! I've got no objections!" Sonic shouted as he used the red and yellow emerald's power to become his famous ball shape and shoot himself at Buru.

The assassin stopped in his tracks when he saw the power emanating from the massive power ball flying straight at him.

"Shield! I need a stronger SHEILD!" He mumbled to himself, as his gray glow grew slightly brighter. Despite that, his worry remained and so did the fact that Sonic's glow was far superior to his.

The hedgehog rammed right into Buru and sent both of them flying off the roof and spiraling across the tops of different buildings. The wind grew strong and powerful due to the force of Sonic's amazing spin and Buru's stomach was taking the full blunt of the attack.

Eventually, after a long flight across the dusty air they both landed on another tall rooftop and slide across it's rocky floor.

Sonic stopped his spin and landed on his feet while Buru slide across the roof and forced himself to stop before reaching the ledge.

Sonic and Buru stood across from each other once again in a seemingly similar stalemate. Buru looked up at Sonic with a huge grin on his face. Sonic looked up at him with the same look.

"Look at that grin… it's okay though… you don't have to put on your façade anymore… I know you want to pass out." The hedgehog said with the utmost confidence in his voice.

Buru's grin didn't go away. However, it did seem that this time he agreed with Sonic's words because he immediately fell forward and passed out on the rooftop.

The fight was over and Sonic felt like a chilidog. Nothing new there.

"I'm hungry… but I know eating will have to wait. My buddy's in danger and I've got to find him." Sonic took a second to scan over the area. After doing so he came to his conclusion.

"I have no idea where the hell I am … OH WELL! I'll find Tails if I look hard enough." The cheerful hedgehog said as he jumped off the building and landed smack into the dirt. Without looking back he sped off to find his lost brother.

_Coordinates 000: War Zone 12_

During the coarse of the numerous fights taking place across the huge battleground/graveyard of Coordinates 000 the damage reports for Shoui had been coming in by the minute.

Shoui was an amazing leader when it came to commanding her own section of G.U.N. She sees life as an extravagant and well thought out play. She does everything so that it feels on cue and not at all out of place. If the plan fails then the play fails and if G.U.N central command disapproves then it's considered a bad review from an important play critic to Shoui.

Right now Shoui and her group of soldiers were at an impasse with Eggman's robots. She didn't have to do anything while her soldiers fought them. The battle wasn't even intense enough for her attention. While her soldiers took care of the minor annoyances Shoui was receiving battle reports left and right from her men.

"Miss Shoui we've received a damage report coming from War Zone 15 where the castle is."

"Oh really. It seems that we've finally entered the next state that Buru had been going on about so we should be there soon enough. What is the damage report."

"It appears that the G.U.N army has taken the advantage there."

"Good, and overall."

"The Eggman's army has been considerably weakened. We're taking the lead in this fight."

"Good, good. Are we coming up on the idiots?"

"The gold and silver robots are actually behind us. They're headed this way. The report from Soldier 87 says so."

"Really. Anything else."

"Yes. We were able to extract one of the panels that were on one of Eggman's robots with the overall number of the people left in the fight. I think you should look at it." The solider wiped out the panel and showed it to the interested assassin.

"8033… 8032… 8029? It went down so fast." Shoui acted as if she was surprised when in reality she knew how such a thing could happen. She's been in plenty of wars before.

"Also there seems to be disturbing news about Coordinates 000's terrain." The soldier said as he brought out a slightly dusty piece of paper.

"Oh?"

"Yes. It seems that on the inside of Coordinates 000 we've been traveling a considerably long distance but… the monitoring helicopters on the outside of coordinates 000 say that… well…"

"Well what?"

"… They say that 3-way villa ends at the Ice Region and they can't see us while we're inside of Coordinates 000. They're strangely still able to contact us but for some reason we don't appear on the helicopters map signal. The only thing establishing connection is the fact that we have radio links."

"… How strange."

"It seems as though Coordinates 000 is acting as if it's a completely nonexistent land mark all of a sudden. It used to be on the map but as soon as people entered it the coordinates on this place disappeared."

"… Anything else."

"Yes. Our radio connection with the 'outside world' is slowly diminishing. It disappeared completely for the people within a 1mile radius of the huge glowing castle we're headed to. Speculation says that if we advance any further our connection will disappear for good. Meaning that even if we go back towards the direction we came in… we'll never reach the Ice region. It will just go in a complete circle."

"I see… so everyone is trapped here then… bummer… still we are in a war and the show must go on.

"You're not concerned ma'am?"

"As long as the play is seen to it's completion I don't mind being trapped here for all eternity. That's how it was meant to be I guess."

"…" The soldier didn't seem to want to agree with her but knew if he spoke out of term he'd be punished severely.

"Commander Shoui!" Came the voice of a tired and scared soldier as he ran up to Shoui with another report in his hand.

"Yes, what is it."

"I… just got word… from… from a stakeout soldier… he says… that Buru was defeated…" He wheezed out.

Shoui stood there with her head cocked to the side as if she was considering something. Then shrugged it off as if it were nothing.

"Oh well. I guess it's his loss when Hato gets here."

"Umm… about Hato…"

"Yes?"

"… The helicopters outside of Coordinates 000 sent out agents to look for fallen soldiers who hadn't made it to Coordinates 000 yet and… among them Hato was found… dead."

" … "

"Not only that but Rasshu and Mardo were found unconscious and severely injured. By what is still under investigation…"

Shoui stood there with a blank look on her face. Hato… dead? That didn't make any sense. What happened? Who could've…?

"I don't have time to dwell on this. Tell me. How far from us are those two morons." Shoui said in a voice that clearly showed that she was becoming impatient.

"They're coming up ahead right about now. What are your orders?"

"Intercept them! The sooner we take them out the sooner the play draws to it's finally. Get a move on!" Shoui barked out her orders with such forcefulness that the two men quickly went to carry them out.

_'Hato's dead and the others have been defeated… I'm the only one left… but still… the show MUST go on.'_

**During the coarse of Shoui's shocking battle reports Eggman's robots began to gain a considerable lead over the G.U.N army. As of now countless Eggman robots are storming the castle and gunning down any G.U.N troops that may or may not be in their way. Because the castle is so huge it will take a while for them to reach the top. The process of getting there is made even more difficult due to the fact that it's both a race and a war to see who can reach the unlimited power that awaits the first one to arrive.**

_Meanwhile a little ways behind Shoui_

"Come on! Almost half the robots have already made it inside the castle! We can not simply let them go alone!" Decoe yelled along side his partner Bocoe with a massive amount of their robots ahead.

"Doing so would not only make us look bad but the doctor will see us as inconsistent and make us do lowly tasks like force us to shave his putrid back." Bocoe shouted while running with his arms flailing and his legs creaking.

"… I think he already did that once."

"I know! It was like a freaking forest filled with grazing cattle was on his back! Glad it's gone now."

They had both rounded another corner seeking what they hoped to be a huge straight line that led right to the castle. Sadly that isn't what they ran into.

"Stop it right there!" Came the voice of a now bitter female assassin. The two robots stopped on command out of fear and quickly began their continuous trembling fit.

"Hey. That's that weird eye patch woman!" Decoe pointed out much to Shoui's extreme annoyance that they would refer to her in such a preschool manner.

Shoui angrily tugged on her gloves and let the anime vein on her head throb to it's content after seeing the two bumbling idiots whom she thought were the one's responsible for Hato and her crews defeat.

"Tell that freak Eggman that I'll send him to Hell along with the late Hato just to even up the score." Shoui said with an obvious growl in her voice.

"Wh-what about us?" Bocoe asked, as he shaking seemed to reach past any limit that any normal human, let alone robot, would've been able to distribute.

"You're in luck. Since the others were merely defeated instead of brutally killed like Hato I think it's safe to allow you to live. However, that doesn't mean to say that I'm not going to finish you two off right here and now!" Her voice suddenly grew louder which sent a signal to the two freaked out robots to run, which they showed no hesitation in doing.

They ran back in the direction they came but it would seem it was too late. Shoui's hand glowed a bright blue and she quickly flung her arm across the air.

"**SHOUI FLATURE!" **She shouted her battle cry, which prompted a huge blue stream of power to shoot out of the woman's hand and reshape itself into what looked like a dragon attached to a string. The string of energy was connected to her hand where the energy was admitted from and was attached to the huge stream of power that was dragon shaped and now headed right for the two robots.

The two robots didn't even have to look back to know that she had hit them with her stage prop made of pure energy. They collided with a building as soon as her attack hit and didn't dare move from the pile of rubble they were now covered in.

"That was the 'Flature' attack. It's the simplest of my stage prop based attacks so you'll probably end up with just a few bumps and bruises… or in your case miniature dents." Shoui explained as she recalled her power dragon back into her glowing hand.

Without so much as a goodbye she turned and headed toward the castle leaving Bocoe and Decoe to grieve.

"Do you think the doctor will be mad?" Bocoe asked.

"… Maybe… if he is then we'll probably end up having to clean up a lot of hair… ugh…"

**While this was going on Eggman's raid was becoming more and more obvious with each shot that was fired across the terrain. Bokkun, Eggman's messenger half-robo was sent from his robot out into the field to take command of his army away from Bocoe and Decoe. Seeing as they had both been defeated Eggman's move was probably a smart one.**

_Coordinates 000: War Zone 5_

Tails was asleep. After he knocked Hang Nail senseless he yipped with glee until he passed out from exhaustion.

Despite needing a lot more rest than anyone else in Coordinates 000 he was the one granted the very least amount possible due to the frequent disruptions and annoying enemy boasting that seemed to take place quite a lot since the fox entered the hero and sidekick realm of adventure.

Sleeping, however, was a past time that Tails had grown to both await and dread at the same time. The fox had frequent nightmares ever since he was taken off of Westside Island. One in particular continued to haunt him even when he was awake.

A constant dream about a small hut on the edge of Westside Island and the dry afternoon in which the plot of his dream took place buzzed through his subconscious. For some unidentifiable reason the images in his dream were blurry and the pictures kept moving constantly. So much so that Tails grew scared upon witnessing it. It looked like a low definition horror movie.

All he could make out was that it was a woman holding a baby. Then there were screams and gunfire. Thinking about it made Tails' brain hurt. The scene kept repeating itself and throughout it's coarse the only thing that grew clear was the splattering of innocent blood across the wall and floor.

It was too much. Tails couldn't stand it. He didn't care if the image was clearing up anymore. He wanted to wake up now! Wake up! Please wake up! Please!

Tails jolted up from the ground basically drenched in sweat. He had to take in two deep breaths in order regain complete control over his system. After a few confusing seconds Tails remembered where he was. The dry soil he sat on, the huge piles of scattered stone, and the unconscious jaguar melted to the ground became his conscious territory once again.

The fox looked at Hang Nail and sighed with relief. The jaguar's life was at an end. He may only be unconscious but he would never move from there again. It was a really scary thought. Tails himself would probably rather die than have to be forced to live in such a dark, haunted, and dusty place. The sheer loneliness that was sure to await Hang Nail would make anyone go literally insane and suicidal.

The more Tails thought about it the more he wondered if it would be more humane to just kill Hang Nail. Living here, melted to the ground, and having a constant pain of overused power recoiling at your body for the rest of your life in a creepy graveyard like area where it was always dark and the only thing keeping you company was the sheer loneliness you felt seemed a lot worse than dying.

"A fate worse than death… wishing you were dead and knowing that it can't happen until you die naturally… Hang Nail will probably eventually die from lack of water or food… it sounds awful but… why don't I feel guilty that it's going to happen to him…"

_'Because he deserves it.'_

The familiar voice of dark reason was back and inside his mind once again.

"Darkness?"

_'A quick death is to good a punishment for scum like him. At least I kill for the thought of a more advanced life. He kills for fun. Instead of taking the easy way out and dieing quickly, he'll die slowly and painfully. He'll have an immeasurable thirst and hunger that will never be satisfied. He'll want to kill himself for the sake of not having to go through the amount of suffering that will indeed be headed his way. The loneliness and suffering that is assured for this jaguar's future is a pleasing thought to me.'_

"It is?"

_'Yes. And it is to you too. Isn't it?'_

" … "

_'Normally I'd tell you to kill any enemy that got in your way but this time it's a much better idea to keep him alive so that he feels the pain he caused you until he died.'_

"Are you sure? What if he…"

_'He's melted to the ground. He can't move from that spot for the rest of his life. He's humiliated and ashamed that he lost to you. He has constant recoil tearing away at his insides that resulted from him using too much of YOUR power. He'll be constantly hungry and thirsty and wish for assistance but will become depressed by the fact that there will be none headed his way. It's a slow and painful death versus a quick and boring one. You decide.'_

Tails looked at Hang Nail and actually considered what he would do. Did the jaguar deserve his help? Should he kill him for the sake of sparing him the horrible and cruel lonely short life that lies for him ahead? It was in his hands. The quick and painless death or the slow and agonizing one, which one did Hang Nail deserve.

After about a minute of thinking Tails heard a smash coming from behind him. The fox turned around and saw, in the distance, an Eggman robot pounding at what appeared to be a man. It was too far away for Tails to make out clearly but Tails knew that the man was in obvious danger. He was probably someone who didn't deserve to die. But if he left to help than Hang Nail…

_'What is your choice Miles? What is the fate of your former bully?'_

Tails looked at Hang Nail with his eyes focused on him. His eyes grew teary and he let a few of the accumulated drops slide down his face.

"… I wondered… I always wondered… what would've been our future if Bear Mayor didn't pass that law. I always thought that you, Slips, and Silt always picked on me simply because of that law… and I wondered if we could've been friends in an alternate timeline if the law wasn't passed… but after all this… I've realized… that it could've been possible for Slips and Silt… but not for you Hang Nail. Unlike them you deliberately became a tool of Eggman's just so you could kill people and take their lives away. You… betrayed your friends. You knowing joined up with the man who killed them and made up excuses that you were just doing it for them because it was really MY fault…"

_'What is your choice Miles?'_ Darkness asked again.

Tails clenched his fist and knew he had made his decision. Without another word Tails turned away from Hang Nail and ran toward the direction of the robot and that man.

"Hang Nail… I feel really guilty about leaving someone in need to die… but… I don't feel guilty leaving you behind. I'm not going to deny it anymore… I hate you so much! With every fiber of my being I hate you! I… I… don't feel guilty… about doing this… or at least… not as guilty as I feel leaving someone else behind…"

"Someone like Sonic… if he ever turned out like you… but then… I'd probably turn out like him as well just so I could stay by my big brother's side…"

_**By this time there were no more G.U.N agents or Eggman robots (besides the main ones) in any of the war zones ranging from 1 to 11. **_

_Coordinates 000: War Zone 6_

Smokestack had been knocked away from Eggman's huge robot due to yet another power collision. You'd think that by now the two of them would have found a way to get by such an annoying event.

"This is getting tiresome Smokestack! Incase you haven't realized but Bokkun left a while ago and is now commanding my enormous mound of robots into that huge castle. It won't be long before we reach that oh so desirable power that the kitsune is based off of. My ambition is about to be realized Smoke. Guess we know who won the agreement we had all those years ago." Eggman taunted.

"Shut up! You're really annoying you know that!" Smoke pulled back his fist and let his powerful smog accumulate in his hand.

_'Okay. Let's see. Everyone in the first eleven zones has pretty much gone. All that's left is me, the hedgehog, the fox, and Eggman.'_

Smoke kept powering his fist up as Eggman's robot pulled back its fist again. They both stared hard into each other's eyes knowing that the next move would decide it all.

Eggman threw his punch at the same time Smoke did and their powered up fist collided. Being bigger, it was thought that Eggman's bot should've won. Too bad that wasn't the case.

A second after the hit was made Eggman's giant robot's fist began to break apart. The doctor freaked out when he saw a huge crack traveling up his robot's arm and travel into the cockpit where he was stationed.

"Wise guy." Eggman growled as he pressed a button on his console, which quickly obliged to its function. In seconds Eggman had ejected safely out of the robot and was back in his small Eggmobile.

The huge crack began to emit electricity around the robot and it eventually exploded. The resulting shockwave wasn't big enough for Smoke to see it as necessary to get out of the way but it did a fine job of blowing dust everywhere.

When the smoke cleared, as expected, Eggman had flown off. There was no doubt as to where he was headed and it was the biggest lead Smoke had to finding the fox again.

"There won't be anymore interruptions this time! The fox will die when we meet at that castle." Smoke looked ahead of himself and saw the huge castle in the distance. It was where all of this destruction was leading too. It was where he would finally destroy that fox! He just had too! For the sake of his clan!

"I would've thought that our last two confrontations would've taught you not to interfere with my plans." A voice filled with silent rage came from behind Smokestack. The commander quickly whirled around and was once again finding himself face to face with the cloaked schemer.

"Darkness." Smoke uttered in surprise.

"Hello G.U.N scum."

"Damn!" Smoke couldn't believe his luck! He was too worn out to handle him right now!

"Once again you're feeble mind has failed to comprehend exactly how much I mean it when I say your part in this war is no longer necessary. You've lived longer than you were suppose to."

"Is that so!"

"Yes."

"I suppose you got that tidbit of info from one of your future slabs or what ever the hell it is you read to peak into this prophecy future you keep whining to me about."

"Perhaps."

"And may I ask, for the sake of curiosity, was it you that was to kill me?"

"Better. You were killed by your own ambition. The kitsune."

"…"

"The vision in my head is so exhilaratingly pleasant. The amount of force by which you were literally ripped apart was so satisfying and amusing that I find it hard not to let the moment replay itself in my head. It's good for a few laughs!" Darkness, however, didn't chuckle while he spoke. He was too flustered by what had happened earlier with Knuckles.

"Damn you! I'm just a freak show to you aren't I!" Smoke went off as he began charging himself up.

"Oi. There's that temper again. Usually I find bursts of your flirtatious disable attitude amusing but as of now I'm in no mood for it. I'll end this quick. Our settlement has ended and it's high time I made sure of it!" Darkness sounded like he was morally pissed off by something that must've happened earlier while Smoke was gone. The commander didn't care what it was though. He had to get out and get out NOW or else he'd…

"You'll find that escape is impossible." Darkness said all of a sudden. Smoke was quickly angered by the fact that he stated his sentence as if it were already a fact.

"You sure about that. After all, not many attacks work on me even when I can't see them. Are you sure it'll work." The commander began to sweat as he unconsciously took a trembling step back.

"It'll work." Darkness raised his hand over Smoke's head, which prompted the commander to smirk.

"A karate chop? Is that all?! Come on Darkness! At least kill me with a little flash!" Smoke shouted as he slipped his hands into his pocket. Darkness quickly took notice.

"Whatever it is you're planning it won't work!"

"Loser says what!"

"What?"

"HA! Got ya! You really are an old fashion sucker!"

"Enough games!" Darkness lit up his hand and shot it down on Smoke as fast as he could. However, it seemed that during their short squabble Smoke had managed to pull a few grenades out of his pocket.

"Take this!" They both said in unison as Darkness' hand collided head on to Smoke's grenades.

From a distance Tails heard a huge explosion. The fox began to pick up his passé at the sound of it. He noticed a huge flash of light coming from the direction he was headed. It was so bright that Tails began to wonder if he was still dreaming and that this was the part where he ran into the light and died. His suspicion was quickly dismissed when the light disappeared almost as quickly as it came.

_Coordinates 000: War Zone 6_

A few more sprints and Tails finally reached his destination. What he had expected to see was a man fighting a huge robot. What he found was a huge small crater in the ground with a man lying inside.

Tails, even more concerned about the man he saw earlier, quickly ran up to him with the thought of helping him. That is until he saw who it was.

"It's that Smokey man." Tails looked down at the seriously injured commander in awe. He looked hurt. He looked like he needed help. Tails didn't know what to do.

'_This guy… he's like Hang Nail right… I should just leave him… no… no I can't do that… I don't know why but… I know I could never forgive myself if I just left him here…'_

Tails was having an inner conflict with himself. He didn't want to do anything that he might regret. He had a choice to make once again. This time the challenge was a little more glaring.

Still Tails chose to face it head on. He knew that no matter what his common sense told him he'd end up helping Smokestack. Despite him trying to constantly kill Tails, the fox knew that he was nothing like Hang Nail.

Tails ran up to Smokestack and squatted down. He saw that he was still awake! The commander was staring right at him! What could he do about this now?

"H-hi." Tails said a bit awkwardly.

Smoke said nothing. He merely grunted a curse under his breath. Darkness had not only gotten away but he managed to injure him so severely with one karate chop. Those grenades weren't ordinary ones that just explode. They sent out a huge array of tremendous blinding light that is supposed to become bomb like if exposed to concealed darkness. It was a project that the military had looked into for a while now.

Even if they were prototypes they were still his last line of defense against that monster. What else could he have done if his own natural powers didn't work? This probably wouldn't even be an issue if the rest of his clan were still alive. There were so many people with so many different powers that dealt with the elements in there. He was just a little bit of what made his clan so great. Then that kitsune came…

_'And destroyed it all.'_ The commander thought in his head. No later had he felt a huge tug on his jacket that snapped him out of his thoughts. Smoke was being slowly pulled away from the small crater from where he resided.

"Hey… what are you doing… you idiot fox. Let… let me go… I'm your enemy remember…" Smokestack said as a reminder to Tails that he was trying to kill him.

"You're not my enemy… I'm YOUR enemy. I don't hate you but you hate me."

"What?"

"If I see someone who needs help and I'm the only one who can give the help then I'll help. I know you would've just killed me if you saw me lying in the same spot as you but… since I don't have anything against you… I... "

"… Thank you…"

"… Uh… you're welcome."

"Despite you helping me… this doesn't change a thing… I'm still going to kill you if the chance should arise again."

"Oh." Tails sounded a bit disappointed. He then began to try and lift Smoke's limp arm over his tiny shoulder. Once it was successfully over he began to walk across the landscape while dragging Smokestack's body across the ground as he moved.

"Man you're heavy mister."

"…"

"Hey… if you still want to kill me… then why'd you thank me?"

"I don't get what you mean. If someone is taking it upon themselves to help me when I'm in need I must thank them. That's how I was raised."

"Oh…" Tails stayed quiet for a short amount of time while he dragged Smokestack to who knows where. Hopefully he'd eventually run into someone who can help and take the heavy commander off his hands. Or maybe he'd at least find a safe hiding spot for him.

Tails looked down at Smoke and noticed his leg start to twitch. He didn't want to say anything but being a curious 4-year-old it was his duty to pry.

"Your leg is twitching mister."

"It's trying to heal."

"Heal?"

"Yes. My clan heals quicker when outside and surrounded by nature as opposed to inside and surrounded by beeping metal. However, mostly everything in this place is dead anyway so it'll probably take forever for me to recover fully."

"Oh…" Tails said as they continued to walk. After a few more steps Tails finally let out the question he'd been wanting to ask this man ever since they've met.

"Why do you want to kill me?" Tails asked in the most conversationally friendly voice imaginable. The way he asked Smoke such a question almost took the commander by surprise.

"… You… I… to be completely honest… I bare no grudge against you exactly… it's that monster inside of you…"

"It is?"

"Yes… That thing is the exact definition of 'pure ancient evil'. That means it's old. Really old."

"I sort of guessed that this weird power was ancient. But why do you hate it so much?"

"… That kitsune… it did something horrible to my clan… The Diox clan… they were a race of people who had a special attachment to nature and the things that nature can create."

"Like _**smoke** _when fire burns down trees?" Tails asked with real interest in his voice.

"Yeah… like that…"

"What horrible thing did it do to your clam?"

"It's _clan_."

"Right. What did I say?"

"You said _clam_."

"Oh… sorry."

"As for what it did… it completely wiped them all out… everyone was killed… safe for one man… That man went on to create a new generation of Dioxes but the results were the same for each kitsune that arose at each of the coordinates'."

"But why your clan."

"Our clan put ourselves ahead as the protectors of the planet back then. Whenever something was a miss at least one Diox clan member from around the world would be there." Smoke explained in a calm manner.

"Like G.U.N."

"… Not like G.U.N… our way was more subtle and less forceful. However, when a threat as big as the kitsune arose we had no chose but to become forceful. We tried our hardest to protect everyone but they we all destroyed."

"What happened to that one man?"

"He was killed when the kistune arose again. However, more Diox clan members had been born by then and they tried to help him. They were easily killed as well. The survivors tried relying on the next generation and the next as the kistune kept arising at the different coordinates and would eventually stop at where it began. Coordinates 000 was where the strongest kitsune was to be born."

"… You mean me?"

"Yes. Not only that but by this time only one member of the Diox clan was left and she was a woman who couldn't fight due to an organ injury. She gave birth to me and then died due to the strain of it all. I'm the only one left. That's why I have to kill you."

"… But I…"

"You're at your weakest now. The smart thing to do would be to kill you while you still had very little control over your power. The only positive thing about my situation is that the kitsune chose to revive inside a 4-year-old this time around… it seemed easy but… you're just so hard to kill without interruption…" Smoke had finished his explanation and left Tails feeling guilty and himself wondering why he spilled all this information to the fox in such a friendly manner.

"Sorry…"

"You're apologizing? Why? Don't you like your new power?"

"No. I hate it! It gets in the way of my life! Me and Sonic just want to live together as brothers and defeat Eggman to help save the Earth. But this kitsune thing keeps showing up and ruining it all!"

"… You're… you actually don't like the power you have?"

"Of coarse not! Why would I?"

"… All the others… throughout time… they've all been corrupted by evil once they realized the power they had… but you…"

"I don't need power… power is stupid! I just want to find Sonic and get far away from this scary place…"

Smoke was taken a back. This was certainly a first. No one ever resisted such power before. It was strange. But then again this was still a four-your-old… no… age didn't matter here. The true will of a person's heart is what drives the kitsune into partnering with its host of taking control over it.

This particular child was being controlled and therefore…

_Coordinates 000:War Zone 4_

"I just can't get over how close that was." Knuckles kept complaining as him and the others trotted their way across Coordinates 000. Him, Amy, the Chaotix, and Shimon had barely made it out of there. For some reason when Knuckles grabbed at that dark light that was surrounding everyone. Darkness' power short-circuited and caused an explosion.

"Maybe you triggered some kind of weakness in him." Amy suggested.

"Maybe… I don't know…" Knuckles tried hard not to think about how incredibly close to dieing they all were.

"Where are we going now?" Vector asked as he cradled Charmy over his shoulders.

"Piggy back!" The little bee cried happily not at all affected by the creepiness of the area they were in. Shimon was a different story. He stayed dangerously close to Espio so he didn't get lost or separated from everyone.

They continued walking and hoping they'd find Sonic or Tails but so far they had no luck. It was as if the good guys repelled them and the bad guys…

"Well hello there!" The voice that uttered the sentence came from the roof of a small run-down hut in front of them everyone looked up and saw something truly freaky.

A metallic blue hedgehog!

"He looks like…!" Knuckles started before Amy blurted the answer out with no disregard for the echidna's eardrums.

"SONIC!!"

"Sonic? Is he not with you? Too bad. I came here searching for him. My sensors are only able to detect who has the chaos emeralds and not exactly where they are. Usually it's the other way around with most of Eggman's robots but what can I say… I'm special." Metal Sonic spoke as he jumped off the hut carrying something in his hand by its leg.

"Hey that looks like… " Knuckles began before Amy interrupted him again.

"ROUGE!!"

"WOULD YOU CUT THAT OUT!!"

"Rouge? You mean this whore." Metal held up the slightly conscious bat by her leg.

"What did you do to her?" Knuckles was getting mad. For what reason he didn't know.

"I hit her. Now she's limp." The robot answered in the blandest voice ever.

For another reason he couldn't explain he grew angrier. Without another word the echidna rushed at Metal in blind rage. Everyone was surprised by Knuckles somewhat unexpected action. After what had happened back there could they afford to risk their lives against an enemy who they knew nothing about?

Metal didn't move he simply stuck out his hand and grabbed Knuckles' fist in mid-charge.

"That pink haired girl… is she Sonic's lover?" Metal asked overlooking Knuckles' angry face. Amy blushed and started to fawn over the thought of actually being Sonic's lover. Everyone else had themselves a huge anime sweat drop upon seeing how oblivious it was possible for her to be.

With one swift motion Metal dropped Rouge to the ground and tossed Knuckles to the side. He swiftly ran behind Amy and chopped at the back of her neck. The surprised hedgehog quickly fell unconscious and was taken up by Metal.

"If she truly is his lover… than he should show up to try and save her… at least I think that's how the mortal heart works." Metal Sonic said as he clenched her dress' collar.

Knuckles, who was tending to Rouge quickly faced Metal with a look of extreme frustration. Espio wiped out a kunai and thrust it at Metal before the echidna could do anything, however. Metal Sonic quickly zipped away from it and let it impale the side of a wooden wall.

Everyone tried their hardest to search for him but he appeared to be gone. However, they could still hear his voice.

"It's been great doing business with you. You can keep the bat. I have no use for her now."

Knuckles growled at the sky when he heard that awful comment and without saying a word, he rushed deeper into Coordinates 000.

"Sonic… watch out…"

_Coordinates 000: War Zone 6_

Big the cat had finally decided to try his luck at searching the area where that huge light had come from a while ago. He and Froggy made their way toward the area and had a quick look around. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary.

After what seemed like a long useless trek across dry soil Big finally came up on something that caught his eye. Sitting in the middle of a bunch of ruined buildings was Smokestack and the fox they were sent here to find! What a lucky find!

The cat wasted no time in running up to them and waving while Froggy croaked with excitement.

Back with Tails, Smoke had somehow been able to recover enough to muster enough strength to sit up on his own. Tails let him do so while pondering if he should consider running before he reached a full recovery. After all Smoke still planned on killing him.

It wasn't long before both Smoke and Tails heard huge footsteps clomping and making their way towards the two tired fighters. Tails, noticing it before Smoke and quickly turned and saw Big waving at them. Confused but happy he waved back. Smoke noticed him waving and looked up to see his comrade and his friend the frog.

Smokestack barely smiled as Big stopped in front of them. The cat had proved himself useful. After all, this tiny fox certainly couldn't carry him a suitable distance without getting tired himself. The only reason Tails was able to carry him at all was because of the kitsune obviously.

"Hey Smoke! Hi fox!" Big said with a cheek-to-cheek smile on his face. It made Tails feel warm inside so he smiled back.

"Hi mister cat."

"Oh, sorry. My name is Big because I'm big and this is Froggy." He said pointing to the frog on his head.

"Nice to meet you." Tails said while almost chuckling. Smoke watched in amazement at the fox. After all that was going on he could still find the courage to smile like that. What was it that drove this child to live so miraculously?

Even with such a spirit, Smoke still had to kill him. It was such a shame. A young fox like him deserved to live. He saw that now. However, because of that thing inside him he would have to die in order for the world's protection to be insured. Fait can be cruel like that.

"Fox." Smoke called out to get Tails' attention. Tails turned to him wondering if he needed something.

"Um… yes?"

"I'm glad we were able to converse in such a way. I know now that you're unlike all the other kitsunes that my clan has dealt with throughout time. When your time of death comes I'll make sure that you don't feel a thing." The commander said in a silent voice.

Both Big and Tails stared at Smoke confused. If that was suppose to make Tails feel better about dieing it wasn't a very good effort.

Suddenly the air grew cold and dark smog began to surround the three of them. The aurora that formed began to reshape itself into the menacing figure that was the ancient cloaked schemer, Darkness.

"Damnit! He's back again! It hasn't even been that long!" Smokestack cursed as the evil deity stood in front of them with his arms by his side.

"This has gone on long enough! You actually had the gaul to try that same stunt the echidna pulled and think I would let you just get away with it!"

"Darkness…" Tails looked at the cloaked schemer with a huge amount of fear emanating from him. He had never sensed this kind of anger coming from him before. What exactly was this guy's back-story? What happened to him that made him become this way?

"What is it that you're pondering young Miles!? I can feel you!" Darkness' statement scared the fox stiff.

"If you have something to ask… ask it to my face!" Darkness stared at the scared child with such intensity that he didn't know whether to speak or stay so quiet that he wouldn't address him again.

"What is it Darkness? This isn't like you. You're slipping up a lot more than you usually do. Your temper is out of control. Your acting… well like me."

"Don't compare me to filth like you!" Darkness quickly retaliated with his huge hint of anger unchanging.

"Why not? You are infact acting as if you're like me. And if you're doing that then that would make you like an unstable mortal would it not?" Smoke said as he smirked with an enormous amount of confidence in his voice. Big and Tails held each other in fear as Smoke began his crazy talk. Why would he purposely anger someone like him?

Darkness put his hand over his hooded face and let it slide down ever so slowly. As he let his hand go down his chuckling quickly rose. Soon it transformed into a full out laughing fit!

This was enough to get Smokestack to drop his confident smirk. Darkness continued to laugh while Big and Tails just stared in scared silence. Eventually the insane deity stopped and faced the three people in front of him.

"Oh, I'm wise to your cracks Smokestack. I must thank you. The fact that you were actually trying to provoke me so that I'd act like you unstable mortals was so amusing that I feel better now."

Smoke's eye twitched with frustration.

"I see the fox is here. Tell me, why haven't you tried killing him yet? Are you too scared or has your heart turned against your _'honorable'_ resolve. Heheheh! HAHAHAHAHA!"

"You shut up!" Smoke yelled completely annoyed.

"Or you'll what? I'm in control here and yet you still fail to accept it. Even at your bitter end."

"Yeah, I've heard that one before!"

"Oh, well then I guess there's nothing to talk to you about now is there. The fox on the other hand…" Darkness turned to Tails.

Tails looked up at Darkness and let Big go. He turned to face him with a frightened look on his face.

_'What does he want from me now?'_

_Coordinates 000: War Zone 12_

Sonic felt as though he had gone too far. Maybe Tails was back the way he came. But then again the castle was where everyone was headed. Sonic looked ahead of himself from the rooftop he stood on. The castle was straight ahead.

"Well… here I go." Sonic began before he heard a voice interrupt him.

"I finally found you…"

_Coordinates 000: War Zone 6_

"You're wondering what it is I want aren't you." Darkness asked taking two steps toward the fox. Tails had half a mind to step back but decided against it.

"Y-yes." Tails managed to get out. Darkness chuckled.

_Coordinates 000: War Zone 12_

Sonic looked behind him and upward. There standing on a rooftop higher than the one he was on was the illustrious Metal Sonic and under his arm was Amy!

"Metal Sonic?"

"It's been a while hasn't it? I believe out last fight was back on Westside…"

_Coordinates 000: War Zone 6_

"Don't fear me Miles. I'm simply going to even your score." Darkness said in a reassuring voice.

"Even my score?" Tails was confused.

_Coordinates 000: War Zone 12_

"Let Amy go! Now!" Sonic demanded while holding up his fists. Metal didn't analogue Sonic's anger in any way.

"I have a proposition for you hedgehog!"

"Huh? A proposition?"

_Coordinates 000: War Zone 6_

"Yes, Even your score. Through out your travels here you've heard countless stories. Many of which you didn't want to hear but you heard them anyway for the sake of your understanding of the dire situation you were in. Now it's your turn."

"My turn for what?"

_Coordinates 000: War Zone 12_

"A rematch if you will. A race."

"A race?" Sonic's face lit up.

"The first one to reach the castle wins. If you win you get the girl. If I win… I slit her throat."

Sonic winced back and began to ponder what to do.

_Coordinates 000: War Zone 6_

"It's your turn Miles… it's finally time for your story."

"My story?" Tails eyes were completely focused on Darkness now. His fear was gone and in its place was curiosity. A huge flaming curiosity lingering inside of him was itching to be satisfied.

Smoke suddenly realized what Darkness was talking about and awaited the event that would happen next.

_Coordinates 000: War Zone 12_

"Your on! We race! First to the castle wins!" Sonic said as he faced the castle in question's direction.

"Perfect." Metal said as he turned toward the castle. _'Now while I'm keeping Sonic busy Master Darkness can break the news to the fox…'_

_Coordinates 000: War Zone 6_

"What story? What story do you want to tell me!? PLEASE! TELL ME!!" Tails didn't know why but he needed Darkness to answer. Desperately, he needed him to answer!

"It's time you learned… of your past!"

Tails became quiet. His pupils almost dilated from shock.

"My… my past… my mommy and daddy…"

"Yes… your mommy… your daddy… Heheh… and their tragic _**deaths!"**_

_Sorry it took so long to get this up. Please review! I'll try to update faster next time!_


	37. Chapter 37

_I've been out hanging in New York City for a while but I'm back for more of this awesomeness._

**BlackxShootingxStar:** Yes I am very evil aren't I. Don't worry here comes somemore.

**Silver Sheilds:** Thank you! This is the field I've been hoping to get in for a career except instead of on paper it's on T.V and the characters are moving drawings.

**Authorized:** I already know it's long. It's a lot longer than I'd ever expect my story to be. However, I don't care because I'm pretending this is some kind of Anime series except it's on a computer. I also didn't mean to be melodramatic. I was just trying to make it seem realistic. He's on an island where absolutely everyone wants him dead but for some reason their mayor forbids the imperfect one's death so they all beat him up instead. At least that's what I thought it was. As for the fluff, I actually think it's very important to the flow of the story. After all if the people don't care about the characters then odds are they're not going to care about the story. Thanks for reviewing.

**Shala the Hedgehog:** Yeah me too!

**Kitsune-awesomeness:** I would tell you _exactly_ where it ends but then I'd be spoiling it for you. It ends shortly after they reach the castle is all I can say.

**Kitsune-SuperFox:** Yes well you know how some people can't resist cliffies being in their stories.

**Raziel777: **Great! I hope you don't fall off the seat and get all banged up.

_Well, I guess that's all who reviewed. I feel great today. I hope you all enjoy this new installment._

**Chapter 36: The tragic past**

_**Almost everything has been destroyed. No one could find a single in tact building in this area any longer. It was all but destroyed. Nothing good seemed to come from wars like this but everyone knew that once in there was no turning back.**_

_**This statement hails true for basically everyone because one of Shoui's agents has brought her army terrible news. It would seem that ever since this war started whoever goes into Coordinates 000 will not be able to come out. You may try heading back the way you came all you want but you'll end up right back to where you started.**_

_**With Eggman's army suddenly gaining a considerable lead over the G.U.N people things seem to be turning for the worst.**_

_Coordinates 000: War Zone 12_

Metal and Sonic had taken off toward the castle at their incredibly high speeds. Metal Sonic had Amy strapped to her back so that she wouldn't get away from him while he trounced Sonic into the ground.

The true blue hedgehog with the spring in his astonishingly fast step didn't see that happening anytime soon however. He remembered how incredibly frightening this guy's power was from the last time they fought. Now they're back here again only this time Sonic's got two emeralds. On the other hand Metal's got Amy and if he uses too much power on him then she might easily get killed.

_'In a joking matter it sounds like a win-win. But in all seriousness I can't let Amy get hurt!'_ Sonic thought as he continued to pick up speed.

"I see that you're increasing your speed. Interesting. You seem to have gotten much faster since our last fight now have you." Metal spoke eyeing his competitor's feet.

"Man, you seriously need to stop talking like you're British." Was Sonic reply. Needless to say his comment confused the robot.

"Regardless. I'll be the victor. After all, my speed does far surpass yours on any given level!" Metal revved up his boosters and shot straight down the line. He bolted carelessly through numerous and crumbled buildings, which, left behind a clean, perfect, circular hole through the building's wall with no cracks surrounding it.

Sonic looked ahead and began to get a little flustered. Despite that he still felt an amazing amount of excitement when racing this guy.

"Hmph. He may know how to put a perfect hole through a wall but I bet he can't get his tongue to reach inside his nostril! HAHAHAHA!" He shouted as he began speeding up even more.

_Coordinates 000: War Zone 6_

Tails was… he couldn't describe it… it was too confusing… he didn't know which emotions he was feeling right now. Was it sadness related to what he might learn through Darkness' tale? Was it anger at Darkness for chuckling so carelessly while he said his parent's were dead? Was it the confusion he was facing after realizing that Darkness had decided to tell Tails this in the middle of a full-scale war?

He didn't know. There were too many emotions jamming their way into his brain for him to accurately point out which he was feeling.

All of a sudden the emotions all fluttered away in an instant… save for one. It was fear. An indescribable fear he had felt for a while now. Darkness was the last person he wanted to ask this but he felt the extreme need to ask someone.

"M-my mommy and daddy… did they…?" Tails stuttered and his tears began to come again. Why did he have to cry so much! It made him mad, so frustratingly mad!

"Did they what?" Darkness had a feeling he knew what the fox wanted to ask.

Tails forced the tears out of his eyes and faced Darkness while trying to keep his head held high.

"Did … did they … love me?"

Darkness couldn't help but chuckle.

"WHAT!? Why do you always chuckle? What's so funny about my past, huh?"

"Everything! At least to a twisted deity like me it is. In the eyes of someone like you or the humans it's likely to be considered… _somewhat_ depressing."

Big, Froggy, and Smoke watched as Darkness began to taunt the poor little fox. Big was simply appalled by the way Darkness spoke to such a little kid. Smoke merely looked on intrigued by what was to happen next.

"I don't care what other people think! All I care about is my parents! Please just tell me! Did they love me?" Tails didn't realize it but he was now on his knees.

Darkness suddenly grew serious.

" … To be blunt, the answer is yes." The deity spoke up in a sort of sad tone, which surprised the three spectators in front of him. It made Smoke wonder if there was more to this story than he had been previously told.

Tails' eyes lit up nonetheless when he heard that his parents actually loved him. It gave him such a nice warm feeling inside.

"However…" Darkness spoke again. As soon as Tails heard that word his hopes almost shattered completely, at least until he heard Darkness continue.

" Their love for you was so ridiculously high that it began to cloud their better judgment. The fools…"

"Fools? Why are they fools? Because they loved me?" Tails wasn't angered at all while he asked it. He was just confused.

"… Yes and No."

Smoke wanted to hear what Darkness had to say. What struck him as odd was how he knew so much about Tails' parents.

_Coordinates 000: War Zone 12_

Metal Sonic was ahead of the blue blur. It was frustrating for Sonic to not be in the lead but he got over it from the way he frustrated Metal Sonic in rebuttal.

"Do robot hedgehog's have boogers?" Sonic asked Metal from behind him.

"No." He answered with an annoyed tone.

"Do robots ever get spanked? I have **plenty **of times when I was younger!"

"I don't care."

"You know, I wasn't officially out of diapers until I was 6."

"So?"

"Do robot where clothes? I do sometimes!"

"…"

"Hey Metal! Do robots…"

"NO THEY DON'T! STOP TELLING ME THIS CRAP YOU ANNOYING LITTLE BASTARD! IF YOU DON'T I SWEAR I'LL BITCHSLAP YOU SO HARD YOUR ANCESTORS' DRIED UP SKELETONS WILL BEGIN TO TINT A BRIGHT DARK RED ON ALL OF THEIR CHEEK BONES!" Metal Sonic shouted with an amazing amount of frustration in his voice. Amy, despite the situation she was in, was having a huge laughing fit on Metal's back. Sonic just stared at Metal Sonic.

"… Well! _Someone _has their rude hat on tonight!"

"That's it. Die already!" Metal lit up a bright pink color and shot multiple blasts of his body energy at Sonic who was still behind him.

"Action AND running! What more can you ask for?" Sonic shouted as he began to dodge the blasts that were fired at him. Some of them sent the hedgehog off balance but that was quickly regained when rivaled with his determination.

The buildings he was running on began to burst into flames as Metal's attacks missed the hedgehog and frustrated the robot even more.

"Damn! Guess I'll just have to pick up the pace even more!" Metal said while doing just that.

"Not bad. Not bad at all!" Sonic grinned as he picked up his own feet until he was moving so fast that it seemed his feet had become a nice ball shape. He moved so fast that he successfully zoomed past Metal Sonic.

"How did…?"

"See ya!" Sonic blasted himself even more which only prompted Metal Sonic to do the same. They were now neck and neck once again. All Amy was able to see was he scenery zooming past her. It looked pretty cool actually.

"Go on sonic! Show this clunker who's the real fastest thing alive!" Amy cheered.

_Coordinates 000: War Zone 6_

"What's yes and no mean?" Tails didn't understand. He wished Darkness would just hurry up and get to the point!

"The way your parents foolishly loved you no matter what was to befall them clouded their better judgment."

"I know! You said that already!"

"More specifically your father."

"D-daddy?"

"Yes. Perhaps it'll be better if I just… show you." Darkness waved his hand at Tails and a huge flash of light came by the fox's eyes.

Tails felt like his body just zipped through a gust of dirty wind. He opened his eyes after the irritating flash and stood in awe.

"I'm… I'm back at…"

"This awful place… your eyes do not deceive you…" Darkness muttered as him and Tails looked down.

They were both hovering over Westside Island.

It looked beautiful from above, which was odd because after what Eggman did to it the island shouldn't even look like an island anymore. This was certainly strange.

"Hey Darkness!" Came a voice from behind the two of them. They both turned around and saw a huge watery magic window sitting there with Smoke, Big, and Froggy's faces plastered on it.

"What is it?" Darkness sounded like he wasn't in any mood for Smoke's voice.

"Where are you and why has this weird window appeared out of nowhere?" Smoke demanded.

"Ugh. It's a window that allows you to see what goes on here Smokestack. However, since I don't want you interfering with my story you won't be able pass through it. Just sit back and watch it unfold in front of you." Darkness snapped his fingers after his explanation and him and Tails were now on the ground.

"This place is pretty. Much prettier than it was back when I was on it." Tails looked around in awe of the island's beauty. It was simply breathtaking.

Cherry blossoms had bloomed everywhere around the field that they were standing in. Tails made sure that he didn't step on any of them. Darkness didn't seem to care and desecrated them willingly.

"It is beautiful. Isn't it?" He said despite his sharp boots impaling the previously alive flowers.

"Yeah… it is…"

"Well then that's too bad. All of this gets destroyed not long from now. This place is your special spot."

"M-my special spot? You mean the place I went to whenever I wanted to get away from Hang Nail." Tails looked up at Darkness, a noticeable wince came across his face at the mention of Hang Nail's name.

"Yes. Indeed it is."

"How'd you know about it?" Tails really wished to know.

"I know all your thoughts Miles. A better question to ask would be how all these flowers could possibly exist if Westside Island was destroyed not long ago." Darkness said while bending down and picking up one of the pink flowers out of the ground. He twirled it between his fingers playfully.

Tails had to admit that what Darkness had suggested was a much better question. He didn't see how it was possible. These flowers were never here back when he went to his special spot. It was always just one huge field. The fact that this many flowers could've grown here so quickly _after _Eggman's less then human assault on the island made absolute zero sense.

The only explanation would be…

"This… this is the past… before I was born?" Tails asked while looking up at Darkness cutely.

"Indeed it is. It's quite tragic."

"Why. It looks so beautiful here."

"_Here_ as in the past. The present timeline isn't so fortunate to have such amazing scenery. That makes it tragic." Darkness clipped the head of the flower off as he spoke the last word.

"Oh… I see." Tails looked down sadly at his feet.

"Let us take a look at what this place was like before you were born." Darkness waved his hand across the air and a flash of light teleported them to the beach.

Tails was quickly amazed by what he saw. The beach looked a little bigger. More people were hanging around here then he had ever seen before.

"Wow! People are actually at the beach! Cool! Everything looks so perfect here."

"This was all before you were born. Everything was peaceful and tranquil. This was back when Westside Island was a great tourist location and everyone was happy. Well, almost everybody."

"Almost?"

"Yes, at this particular point in the island's history the imperfect ones were outcasts. Mistreating and killing them wasn't at all frowned upon…"

"Why? Why wasn't it frowned upon?" Tails ran in front of Darkness with a pleading look in his eyes.

"This island isn't at all connected to the law systems of the government. The reason being that this place was simply perfect. This island was allowed to separate from the government's imperfect system to make sure their perfection maintained itself."

Tails let what Darkness said sink in. Then he suddenly grew angry.

"Perfect! They think that killing innocent babies and destroying families because of an extra or missing body part makes this place perfect!" Tails shouted then closed his mouth as if expecting everyone to look at him strangely.

However, that didn't happen. Tails was confused but Darkness explained it for him.

"We're unable to be seen or heard by them all. Do not worry."

Tails looked around and noticed that everyone was indeed completely oblivious to their presence.

"I still don't think it's fair." The fox let his comfortable stance emerge once again. "My life… all my life I was treated so badly… and I didn't even do anything… I thought that…"

"In a way you sort of did." Darkness spoke up all of a sudden which prompted Tails to turn to him with a freaked out look on his face.

"What did I do? I don't remember anything… was it when I was a baby… did I accidentally mess up some kind of important document… or…"

"It was the exact moment you were born that decided this island's fate."

" … "

"It's true though. This time now was simply the day before you were born. The imperfect law was only put into action a few years ago."

"Wait you mean that… this imperfection law is recent… that's…"

"Almost a coincidence. The previous leader of this island hated killing. He thought that the imperfect were perfect because they were different and he was probably right. He did everything in his power to make sure those with disabilities were taken care of. Everyone on the island agreed with his views and everyone was happy, not just the _perfect _people." Darkness explained.

Tails seemed to feel both sad and happy at the same time. The guy Darkness was describing seemed so nice, the exact opposite of Bear Mayor. It was a coincidence in more than one way. If he had been born during the time of that old mayor then maybe he wouldn't of hated his life so much.

What seemed like a glaring coincidence was that the old one was killed just a few years before his birth. Maybe it was just his bad luck.

"That sucks. I was having bad luck even before I was born."

"So it would seem."

"What did you mean when you said the island's fate was decided when I was born?"

"Just what it sounds like. The power within you would be sought after as soon as you were born. That's exactly the reason Bear Mayor took this island over."

Tails was beyond confused. Darkness simply chuckled.

"Perhaps we'd better start at the beginning." Darkness waved his hand and the bright flash of light overtook Tails' sight again.

_Coordinates 000: War Zone 12_

Sonic and Metal Sonic were reaching the halfway point. It would seem that the race could go either way. The blue hedgehog wasn't at all tired and he knew that a robot like Metal couldn't possibly have the word 'tired' written in his dictionary.

"Sorry Metal but I've got a race to win! This'll be over quick." Sonic grinned as he wiped out his two chaos emeralds and his golden ring.

"I see you have your two emeralds with you. It's a shame that they had to end up in such incomprehensible care." Metal had expected this but decided to humor Sonic by not using his emerald yet.

The hedgehog quickly fired up his two emeralds and sped across the terrain at an incredibly fast rate. A huge sonic boom went off as the hedgehog continued to run.

"I guess this makes me the winner!" Sonic looked back to see how far Metal Sonic was from him. That turned out to be a huge mistake.

WHAM!!

As soon as Sonic looked away he tripped over the edge of a building he was zipping by and crashed into a crumbled hard wall.

The hedgehog stayed plastered against the wall and let the immense pain sink in as he slid down it with a dazed feeling in his mind. He barely noticed Metal Sonic zooming past him.

"Sonic! Get up! He's going to win if you stay there! Hurry!" Amy screamed.

"I knew his cockiness would get the better of him in this fight." Metal looked back briefly before shooting toward and past the halfway point.

_Back in the past_

Tails and Darkness ended up in an extremely dark place. There were sounds of beeping and electric sparking. Tails was familiar with these sounds. He loved these sounds. The sounds of construction and mechanical know how usually made him feel comfortable.

However, as of now he got more of a creepy vibe from it.

"Do you know where we are Miles?" Darkness asked all of a sudden. His sudden voice startled the fox out of his thinking and he decided to have a look see. They were clearly in a lab of some sort. There was a huge computer monitor in front of them. On closer inspection Tails could make out a small insignia on the monitor.

"That face… this is Eggman's base!"

"Precisely." Darkness said.

Tails turned to Darkness with a look of extreme worry on his face.

"What does Eggman have to do with my past? Did he kill my mommy and daddy?"

"He was involved… that's all I'll tell you until we reach the point in time where your parents died. As of now look closer at the scenery in front of you." Darkness pointed to a location in the lab where secretive mumbling could be heard.

Tails ran toward the area and decided to check it out. As soon as he reached the area and saw who was doing the mumbling he almost fell to the ground in a shocked state.

"There are two Darkness'?" Tails was confused again but he quickly remembered that this was in fact the past. He looked ahead of himself and saw the second Darkness standing in front of the obese doctor himself.

"And that's Eggman." Tails looked at the two people talking in front of him as they were talking. The present Darkness came up and helped Tails regain his composure.

"Pay close attention to their words Miles." Darkness quickly warned. Tails nodded and did so.

"Who are you and how were able to defeat my robots so quickly?" Eggman asked as he frustratingly backed into a corner.

"You're referring to those annoying trinkets. A simple matter really. There weren't much depth to them. You really need better security." Past Darkness stood in front of Eggman with his trademark perfect posture.

"Well, it's not a matter of better security to me! If there weren't so many freaks on this planet then maybe I could get something's done!" Eggman shouted back angered by being accused of giving his robots no depth.

"It's no wonder you live alone with an attitude like that."

"If you have some business with me I suggest you tell me already! With my _attitude_ you should realize that I don't like it when people waste my valuable time." Eggman began taping his foot impatiently. At this point in time his newest base was just brought down by one small hedgehog. It was frustrating that such a small creature could do so much damage. What stung even more was that the hedgehog looked like a four year old.

Seriously, he knew kids could be a handful but _sheesh_!

What was worse is that after some accident he was stuck in this awful egg shape and he still hadn't coped with it yet. This guy certainly wasn't making him feel any better about it either.

"I've come for your assistance." Darkness said with a full honest voice.

"Assistance? With what?" Eggman's eyes squinted with curiosity. Tails was curious as to why Darkness would need Eggman's help anyway.

Past Darkness snapped his fingers and suddenly they weren't in Eggman's lab anymore. They were now outside but it looked… different.

The sky was red, buildings were crushed and ruined, and there were skeletons lying across the dead soil everywhere.

"Wh-where is this place? What's going on? How'd you bring me here?" Eggman started to freak out as he realized how quickly his lab had disappeared.

"Calm yourself Eggman. I've simply transported you to the future." Darkness said with a slight reassuring voice. Eggman calmed down a bit and focused his face on Darkness' hooded self.

Tails was freaked as well. This was the future he saw in that one dream when Darkness told him of the destruction he would bring.

"Calm myself? How am I suppose to calm down when I know now that the future will turn out like this… unless this is just one of the cities I destroyed." Eggman considered as he rubbed his chin.

"It's not. This future was ruined by a monster of even greater power than myself."

"I assume your power was great in the first place." Eggman said as he stopped rubbing his chin.

"Yes… and as for your place in this future… well your death was quick… I assure you that you felt very little pain." Darkness didn't change his straightforward tone of voice.

"… My… death… a monster."

"A kitsune… it's a powerful demonic monster that will be unleashed upon this planet a few years from now."

"Unleashed?"

"A better word would be 'born' into this world. He will be a two-tailed fox and the birthplace is Westside Island."

"Westside Island… isn't that _'the perfect place'_ people keep talking about." Eggman seemed intrigued by this.

"Indeed it is." Darkness waved his hand and brought him and Eggman back to the lab.

"So, what do you want me to do about this? If he's already stronger than you and you're obviously stronger than me then there is nothing I can do about this." The doctor honestly thought such a thing seemed obvious.

"Not necessarily. For you see, the kitsune's power will lay dormant for about 4 and a half years after his birth. If you can successfully kill him before he reached four than you'd be able to prevent this overwhelming power from killing you." Darkness explained.

Eggman chuckled at Darkness' suggestion.

"Really? Don't you think that would be sort of a waste? A power like that could easily be used to create my Eggmanland project! Yes! If I could harness a power like that…"

"Do you honestly believe it will be that easy?" Darkness butted in.

"Pint sized brats are the easiest ones to have subjected to mind control. Don't worry. I can make something. Maybe a small device that I can implant in my robots so that they can take the kitsune's power at will?"

"Something like that can only be put into existence with my help." Darkness pointed out. Eggman hummed to himself then spoke again.

"Are you willing to help me create it?"

"Of coarse. I say we form an alliance."

"Really? Another alliance? That's my second one this week."

"With whom? May I ask?"

"With this guy who calls himself Bear Mayor. I found him lying in the forest with a huge amount of missing limbs. We made a deal. I fixed him up with some new robot parts and he'd become my servant. It seemed like a simple and flawless deal." Eggman explained not at all wondering how Bear Mayor ended up in his condition.

Tails couldn't believe what he was hearing. Was this really true! So many thoughts flooded his mind.

"I don't believe it! You mean that you and Eggman joined forces so you could steal my kitsune power? But I thought that you wanted me to become the evil monster?" Tails was relieved and confused at the same time.

"Well yes. I originally wanted to steal your power from you. But as of now my motives changed. A person who's had so much taken from him deserves this power for himself. It's only fair." Darkness lied unknowingly to Tails. The fox continued to question him.

"And Bear Mayor originally worked for Eggman before the nice guy who ran Westside Island died?" He asked wondering how someone as twisted as Bear Mayor could've been given the duty as head of such an important island.

"He always worked for Eggman, even when he was head of that awful island."

"W-What?"

"Look ahead Miles and walk. Eggman and my past self are heading into another room." Darkness warned as he noticed the two of them walking and talking.

"So, what do you get out of helping me harness the Kitsune's power?" Eggman had a scary looking twinkle in his glasses as he spoke.

"Me? I simply get the satisfaction of helping someone as radiant as you out." Darkness said with a chuckle in his voice.

"Right. Of coarse that's it." Eggman didn't believe this guy for one second but decided not to speak about it any longer.

The two and their unnoticeable spectators preceded down the long hallway to a steel bolted door that had the words **'Medical Robot Construction'** written in bold letters on the front of it.

Eggman walked up to the wall beside it and slide open a small case that was stuck on the wall. Inside of it was a panel with beeping numbers and a small calculator screen over it. Eggman punched in a combination on the panel, which was followed by numerous beeping sounds.

They door immediately opened when he was finished. Him and his new partner stepped into the room and stood in front of a huge tube that had a brown figure inside. Tails wondered for a second who it could be then realized that he new exactly who the stranger was.

"Th-that's Bear Mayor! He's in Eggman's lab tube!" Tails shouted in amazement.

"Is this that Bear guy you were referring to?" Past Darkness asked with mild interest.

"Why yes he is." Eggman pressed a few buttons on his console and the tube slowly opened up. The Bear quickly opened his eyes and almost blasted himself from outside of the tube. Luckily all he did was a forceful jump.

Bear Mayor stretched and pushed his hands against his back so that it would crick and feel back in place.

"I feel like a millions bucks!" Bear Mayor eyed his new robotic eye (somehow), hands, and his left leg. "You did an amazing job doctor. I'm impressed."

"As you should be. This is my latest design for the recreation mechanism." Eggman said as he happily pulled the level to the machine and had the tube close itself. Bear Mayor quickly eyed his blue suit, red tie, and top hat, he remembered wearing before he was mauled by some unknown creature, sitting over a silver rail.

He ran over and quickly got dressed. Afterwards the guy took notice of Darkness' presence.

"Who's he?" He asked with a subtle voice.

"My name is Darkness. I've just formed an alliance with Eggman here. Same as you." Darkness introduced himself for the first time.

"Darkness eh? Catchy." Bear Mayor said. "So what is it that you want?"

"Darkness is here for a special mission and aren't we lucky you recovered just in time so you could take part in it as well." Eggman said while rubbing his devious hands together.

"What mission?" Bear Mayor raised his eyebrow confused.

"It's a simple one. Since this whole Eggmanland project is basically one huge dictatorship I came up with a brilliant idea. I need you, Bear Mayor, to go to a place called Westside Island and kill their current leader. Take it over and make it look like an accident so that people won't question your rule. They'll just think you're the predecessor." Eggman explained as if killing someone and taking over an island was the most common thing in the world.

"Me, Bear Mayor, actually becoming a mayor! Sounds sweet! But why Westside Island?" He asked quite confused. Eggman proceeded to tell Bear Mayor the story while Tails stood in disbelief once more.

"You mean… Bear Mayor … wasn't … the real mayor … he killed the nice Mayor and took over!" Tails sounded sad once again. Darkness simply nodded as a response to his obvious emotions.

"Yes, the previous mayor's name was Simon West. He was a very good leader. As I said before everyone lived in peace, including the imperfect people. However, when Bear Mayor came to the island he was quickly relieved of his duties and the time of depression for you birth defected people came into play." Darkness said as he waved his hand and brought him and Tails to a new location in time.

This time they were in an office. Not just an office but the Westside Island Mayor's office. Tails looked around the room and it didn't take him but a second to realize the horrible bloody corpse of Simon West lying in front of the evil and sadistic Bear Mayor.

"No … I can't … believe it …"

"What's done is done. You can't change the past Miles." Darkness said quietly and almost carelessly.

"Yes you can! **You **can change it! **You**…" Tails began pleading which prompted Darkness to yell at him.

"This isn't some kind of game! You can't just go into the past and rearrange it like some kind of careless fool! People's lives could very well be at risk by doing so!" Darkness shouted which scared the poor little fox.

"… It still isn't fair…" Tails turned back to the scene. He noticed the doorknob was being turned and so did Bear Mayor. He freaked out at the thought of being discovered and wanted to desperately hide the body. He was too late, however, and the door opened.

"Okay, mister Mayor. I looked through the files and I still didn't find anything on kit-" The man's voice stopped when he saw the scene in front of him. He stared shockingly at Bear Mayor who started to sweat bullets.

Tails knew who this guy was. He just couldn't believe he was witnessing all this unfold in front of him.

Bear Mayor was face to face with Commander SmokeStack!

"H-hello sir… I was just… uh…" Bear Mayor didn't know what to say. There was only one thing to do. He didn't want to resort to senseless violence but he was going to have to kill this guy to keep him quiet.

"What are you suppose to be?" Smoke spoke as if he didn't care that the mayor was lying dead on the floor in front of him.

"Who me? Well I… I'm… uh…"

"Yes."

"… I'm not going to tell you. Be gone!" Bear Mayor shouted as he fired up his laser eye. Smoke stood there unfazed. The frustrated bear fired a red beam straight at the commander. The beam hit directly… but for some reason it went right through him and the part he hit turned to smog.

Bear Mayor was freaked out by this and ignored the explosion that took place when his beam hit the wall outside the room.

Smoke scuffed at the weird half-robot animal in front of him. Bear Mayor got on his knees in a begging position with sweat covering his face.

"Please, forgive me sir! I was just…"

"Killing the mayor so you could take over, correct?"

"Well… y-yes." Bear Mayor looked up and saw Smoke's serious and unfazed look. It made him wonder. He then saw the G.U.N insignia on his jacket and freaked out even more. "I'm sorry for this crime I committed! Please don't make that big of a deal out of it!" Was the best he could come up with.

"I don't care about what you did to him." Smoke said surprisingly. Bear Mayor almost stood up when he heard that. Why not care?

"Really? Why not?" The bear asked with curiosity.

"This place was deemed so perfect that it was allowed to separate from the imperfect government on the outside world. That includes G.U.N. I don't have any obligation or right to take you in for what you did." Smoke explained.

Bear Mayor quickly regained his composure and stood up when he heard that. He greedily rubbed his stubby hands together and grinned at Smokestack.

"Then you won't tell anyone of the event that just took place here?" He asked with a silly hopeful grin on his face.

"I don't have time for careless gossip. I'm on a personal mission right now. If this were a legal confidential matter than I'd quickly put my work aside for the sake of justice. However, that isn't the case here." Smoke explained.

"… So is that a yes?"

"Hmph." Smoke walked right past Bear Mayor and stepped over the body of the previous ruler of the island. He made it to the desk and opened the drawer beside it. After fiddling with a few papers he slammed the drawer shut in frustration, which startled Bear.

"Damnit! Even when that fool dies and I have access to his personal files I still can't find anything!" Smokestack said with utter frustration.

"Um, may I ask what you're looking for?" Bear Mayor put his hands to his side and watched as Smoke leaned against the desk.

"Files on a kitsune. It has nothing to do with you so I'll be leaving." Smoke got up and headed for the door but Bear Mayor quickly stopped him.

"Wait! I have information on a kitsune!" Bear Mayor retaliated which prompted Smoke to turn back around and face the short animal.

"What did you say?"

"Me and my partners came to this island on the premise that there was a kitsune waiting to be born here." Bear Mayor explained. Smoke seemed interested and decided to let the bear speak.

Bear Mayor explained to Smoke everything about the kitsune, the future world, Eggman, Darkness, and all the other stuff. Afterwards Smoke didn't look like it but he was convinced.

"So I was right. He will eventually be born here." Smoke had his arms crossed as if he was considering something.

"If you could help us out by finding as much information about this as you can than I'd be very grateful." Bear Mayor could tell that just by looking at this guy that he'd be an important member to the team.

"I'll agree to join you on one condition." Smokestack said in his very serious tone.

"Oh?"

"You send money to me and my G.U.N quadrant each month to convince me. It's to prove that our alliance is set in stone."

"Money? I think that can be arranged." Bear Mayor said while smiling to himself.

"Also, if I ever find out that you sent money to the wrong place or miss even one of the months I ask for it then I'll consider it an alliance breakup. Afterwards I might even kill you." Smokestack said with reassurance that he would.

"O-of coarse! Heh heh! I'll handle it right away!" Bear Mayor yipped in fear. Smoke said nothing else as he turned and walked out of the room leaving Bear Mayor to let the breath he'd been holding in out.

Tails started to feel bad again. His family had been marked even before his birth. He knew now that their deaths were his fault.

"Mommy and daddy… I'm so sorry…" Tails muttered under his breath as he watched Bear Mayor dispose of Simon's body.

Darkness waved his hand again and a light flashed. This time they were teleported in front of a small hut.

"Where is this?" Tails looked around the forest area with the small hut sitting in front of him. It seemed so familiar to him.

"After Bear Mayor took over everything deemed imperfect was ridiculed and/or killed. Your parents lived in a secluded part of Westside Island where no one bothered them. No one visited them or even knew where they lived. However, they were all friends with your parents because they visited the main town a lot. That is until after you're birth which took place inside this hut where your parents live." Darkness explained while holding his hand out at the hut.

Tails looked straight at it and smiled slightly. This was where he was born! It sounded so amazing!

"Are they inside? Am I born yet?" Tails asked with a sense of giddiness in his voice. Darkness responded yes to both. Tails happily jumped up and down and ran inside.

He didn't have to go far to spot his parents. There they were sitting in the living room. A female fox holding a bottle to the infant's mouth she was holding sat on the couch with a blanket over herself and a smile on her face.

A male fox sat next to her with his arm around his lover and his eyes staring down at the beautiful little baby boy.

Tails quickly began to tear up. Aside from the picture that Hang Nail ripped up he had never seen his parents before. His heart felt like it was going a mile a minute. He started to ponder why this place seemed so familiar considering he was an infant when he was last here and that he shouldn't remember something from so far back.

Oh well. Who cares! His parents are here!

"The female's name is Rosemary and the male's name is Amadeus." Darkness explained with his hands in his sleeves.

Tails ran up to face them with numerous uncontrollable tears rolling down his face and on to the hard wood floor. He knew they couldn't see him but they saw him as a baby and now he can see them now that he's older.

"Mommy… and daddy… they're here… they're really, really here." Tails continued to cry and listened to them speak.

"He's such a cute little tycoon isn't he?" Amadeus spoke softly to his wife.

"I could stare at him all day. We really must do this again some time." Rosemary chuckled and winked at her husband causing him to chuckle as well.

"When the mood is right I suppose. Hahaha." Amadeus began to laugh. Tails didn't understand what he meant by 'mood' but found himself laughing as well. Even his baby self chuckled a little.

Rosemary removed the bottle and began rocking baby Tails in her arms. The slow and soothing motion caused baby Tails to yawn and drift to sleep. Rosemary tuned to look at her husband and smiled.

"Ya Know? I've always wondered what you looked like as a baby." She admitted.

"Oh really?" Amadeus seemed intrigued by this but decided to leave the topic be. After a while Rosemary spoke again, this time with a sound of worry in her voice.

"Amadeus… he is a wonderful child but… I fear we may need to escape the island in order for him to have a full happy life." She spoke truthfully. It was obvious that their son had two tails. That was an imperfection in Bear Mayor's eyes. Since Amadeus was the one who delivered their baby no one else knew of his existance. Amadeus knew this topic would come up soon.

"Yes … I knew that … ever since Bear Mayor took over it's been impossible for anyone to escape the island due to his unreasonable beach defenses. That's why hardly anyone goes to the beach anymore. Damn him!" Amadeus cursed in front of his son.

Tails began to feel depressed once again and Darkness quickly took notice of it.

"Something the matter fox?" Darkness asked already knowing what it was.

"I wish my daddy didn't have to worry so much… I know he just wants what's best for me but they didn't have to suffer…" Tails said. Darkness chuckled.

"There is something you should know about your father. He didn't want his family harmed so much that he even made a deal with someone he knew wasn't trust worthy before your birth."

Tails turned to Darkness with a shocked expression on his face.

"W-who?"

Darkness didn't hesitate to wave his hand and send Tails a few years back. When the light went away they were in an empty field similar to Tails' special spot.

Tails looked over and saw his dad standing in front of…

"It's you!" Tails was shocked to see his father standing in front of Darkness! Next to Darkness was his comrade Smokestack who didn't look at all pleased by what they were doing.

"Yes it's me. Watch this scene as it unfolds." Darkness said basically hushing Tails up.

"After all we are old army buddies so I suggest that this isn't a problem then." Smokestack said to Amadeus's face.

"I don't ever recall being your buddy." Amadeus said in a harsh tone.

"That was a joke." Smoke merely stated.

"It doesn't matter! I can't help you out!" Amadeus stated as he turned from both of them. Darkness spoke then.

"I know this must be hard for you to except but when your son is born he will be a monstrosity! His very existence will cause the destruction of the planet! Can't you see that you're carelessly pushing billions of people and animals lives aside for you're soon to be three person family?"

"But why MY son?" Amadeus turned to face Darkness with a noticeable tear in his eye.

"Because he is the chosen successor, a danger to all life on this planet! We employee you to contact one of us when your son's birth is at hand. Or would you rather have both you, your wife, and everyone on this planet die as opposed to just your son dieing and you and your wife living in peace."

Amadeus was thinking hard. He didn't want to have to kill his firstborn. It sounded so awful and his wife would be crushed. If they had anymore children they'd always be haunted by the fact that one-day they'd probably need to tell their second child what they did to his older brother or sister. It would be too painful!

But then again, he couldn't very well let the world be destroyed either. He decided that he had made his decision.

Tails watched and anxiously awaited his daddy's answer.

Amadeus turned to Darkness and whispered, "Okay."

It was loud enough to be heard by everyone however. Tails felt like someone had just stepped on his heart and meshed it against the ground.

His own daddy had just agreed to kill him as soon as he was born.

"Poor Prower family. It's so sad when a great promise at life is destroyed due to a disturbing technicality such as this." Darkness spoke.

Tails didn't respond. He was too shocked to respond. His eyes were left wide and his tears still flowed without his notice.

"Snap out of it Miles. There is still more I wish for you to see." Darkness spoke up and snapped Tails out of his trance. The deity waved his hand again and transported them to a spot in the woods.

There he saw his mommy, his daddy, and himself in the empty forest having a picnic. Baby Tails was happily nibbling on a peace of bread while his mom held his small little body. He was wearing blue baby booties and had a green pacifier around his neck attached to a blue homemade string. His tiny little baby gloves had pictures of airplanes on them as well.

"There he goes staring at the sky again. I bet he wishes he could fly." Rosemary pointed out.

"Oh yeah! You wanna fly? Well then I'll help you fly." Amadeus picked his son up and began zooming him playfully across the sky. Baby Tails dropped his bread and began laughing happily. Both him and his parents were laughing and having a good time.

Tails couldn't help but smile but immediately noticed something odd.

"That's weird. I look a little bigger than before." Tails pointed out.

"Indeed. This took place about 3 months after your birth." Darkness explained. Tails almost choked on his own saliva.

"WHAT?! B-BUT THAT MEANS-"

"Amadeus didn't keep his end of the bargain. He didn't contact me, Bear Mayor, Smokestack, or Eggman about his child's birth. Like I said he foolishly loved you too much."

Tails couldn't understand it. Was he really going to let the world die for him? Tails felt even guiltier. He watched as his baby self flew happily in his daddy's grip completely oblivious to the situation at hand.

He wished he could go back to that but instead of just him it'd be him, his parents and Sonic and his parents too.

Darkness waved his hand once again and took them to a different point in time. Tails and Darkness were now at the outskirts of the forest. The scenery was different from the usual one. The sky was red and the wind was frighteningly warm.

"Wh-where are we now?" Tails didn't like the feel of this place.

"We're on the outskirts of the forest that leads to your home. Look ahead." Darkness pointed in front of them. Tails turned and saw his daddy and Smokestack confronting each other.

"I take it that you and me meeting here means that your son has finally been born." Smokestack said which prompted Amadeus to nod.

"I see… was he just born or did you just wait 3 extra months just to piss off Darkness?" Smokestack asked. Amadeus' heart almost skipped a beat. He had hoped they wouldn't mind if he waited 3 months before he turned Tails over. It seems not though. Now he foolishly broke their promise.

"I… I just wanted to spend sometime with my son before you killed him… please… hurt me if you must but don't take it out on my wife…" Amadeus pleaded.

"… I won't … don't worry about what I would do… worry about what the other three would." Smokestack said as he turned to walk away. Amadeus knew Smoke was off to seal the deal he had made with Eggman, Darkness, and Bear Mayor before they killed his son. He stood there and let his emotions get the better of himself. He cried and cried and showed no signs of stopping.

Tails was crying too. He hadn't known that his dad was suffering so much. He ran up to his dad and looked up at him. He watched as his tears hit the dirt all around him.

"I'm so sorry… Rosemary… and you to… Miles…" He whispered.

"I'm sorry too daddy." Tails said with his voice cracking.

Darkness, much to Tails' expense waved his hand and sent them off again in another blinding flash of light.

They reappeared inside the hut where Rosemary and baby Tails was. Baby Tails was crying for some reason and no matter what she tried to do she simply couldn't quiet him down.

"Oh sweetie. Don't cry. Do you miss your daddy?" She asked as she picked up a small picture with the three of them on the front of it. She smiled and tucked it into Tails' baby bootie. "Keep that with you until I can get another photo album. It's the only picture we were able to take using our old beat up camera." She said out loud.

Tails immediately recognized the picture as the one found in his baby bootie at the orphanage. It was his most prized possession until that jerk Hang Nail ripped it up.

Tails then realized something terrifying. This hut, this setting, the sky outside, and the position she is standing in all seemed so familiar. At first Tails couldn't place it but eventually he knew what it was.

"M-my dream! This is my dream! The one I kept having whenever I'd go to sleep! This is so scary! Darkness! What's going on!?" Tails was beyond terrified now and it showed by the way he kept tugging on Darkness' cloak.

The hooded deity said nothing to him however.

"PLEASE! TELL ME!!" Tails' heart was beating so fast and he began to hear footsteps approaching the hut outside.

Tails turned toward the door, as did his mother. They both watched in horror as the door was roughly kicked in and two figures stood outside the door. One was the evil Dr. Eggman and the other was Bear Mayor!

"NO!!" Tails shouted.

"B-BEAR MAYOR!!" Rosemary screamed and backed herself against the wall.

"Where is it?" Eggman spoke before Bear Mayor could.

"I-I… I don't-" Rosemary was too frightened to know what to say.

"Where is the fox, miss!?" Eggman shouted in anger. Bear Mayor just chuckled and whipped out a handgun.

"That gun!" Tails said in a surprised tone. He remembered gunfire from his dream.

"There it is? Right there in her hands! She's covering its head with the blanket! Besides I can hear it crying too!" Bear Mayor cocked his gun and pointed it at Rosemary.

"Kindly give us the fox miss." Eggman said in a calm manner.

"No! I won't! He's my baby! I won't give him to either of you!" Rosemary shouted as she held baby Tails tighter.

"Just do it mommy! Please!" Tails begged and tried to reach out to her.

"Fine! I guess we do this the quick way then!" Bear Mayor shouted.

"What quick way?" Eggman asked but got his answer when Bear Mayor fired the gun.

**BAM!**

Everything was silent for a short while.

After what seemed like an eternity of tense waiting, Rosemary fell back against the wall and slid down it slowly with her baby still in hand.

She sat their motionless and literally lifeless. It was over. She was dead.

Bear Mayor laughed manically which earned him a good wallop to the head by Eggman.

"Why the hell did you do that for!? We just broke our deal with that Amadeus guy that we wouldn't hurt his wife!" Eggman scolded him.

"So?" Was Bear Mayor's response.

"SO! I take my partnerships very seriously! You should too! Not doing so could get you killed one day!" Eggman continued to argue with Bear Mayor while Tails blocked them out of his earshot. He approached his dead mother ever so slowly. The only thing he could hear was his own self's very silent sobbing and his baby self's loud crying.

"… Mommy…" Tails fell to his knees and looked her over. Blood tricked down her chest and stomach area. It was such a tragic ending.

Bear Mayor walked over and forcefully picked up Tails' baby self, still crying.

"I wish baby's would just shut up and stop being annoying." Bear Mayor stated feeling extremely bitter about what seemed like nothing. He carried baby Tails over to Eggman and started to negotiate.

"Well?" Eggman asked.

"That Smokestack dude says that he's really out to kill the kid. However, he says he won't do it until the kitsune is about ready to show its powers. Until then I'll put him into an orphanage and when that time comes you and Darkness would've already handed out your power sucking devices. Taking the kitsune's power before Smoke kills him will be a breeze."

"Of coarse. After all the contract says nothing about taking anyone's powers." Eggman smiled to himself. "Oh and what about the hut and her body?" Eggman asked with curiosity.

"Heh Heh. I'll burn this place to the ground with her still in it. That'll be something nice for her husband to find." Bear Mayor chuckled to himself.

"Harsh." Was all Eggman said while leaving the hut. As soon as he was gone Bear Mayor fired up his red eye laser and shot it at the floor. It left a small fire, which almost immediately overtook the house and escalated into a huge raging house fire.

Tails stood there unaffected by the flames physically but mentally they burned away at his heart. He couldn't believe what he was witnessing. He didn't want to see anymore.

"Come Miles. There is still one more thing I'd like to show you." Darkness waved the light in front of Tails once again, much to his dismay.

When they reappeared Tails was in the woods. Fire and smoke was shooting up from behind the trees in the background.

"What's here?" Tails asked a bit scared to find out.

"Look ahead." Darkness pointed to a particularly large tree in front of him.

Tails looked and saw Smokestack standing there and looking up at something hanging from the tree. Tails walked over, stood beside Smoke, and looked up at it too.

Tails knew Smoke was there but acted like he didn't. He looked up at the thing hanging from the tree. It had a rope tied in a lope around his neck. His body was dangling from a tree branch. A small stool was toppled over on the ground. Tails let a few more tears go as he stared at it wide eyed.

"… Daddy …"

It was indeed Tails' father.

"Your father arrived home a while later and discovered the house burning and he even made out his wife's burning body. He was devastated and wanted to throw himself in there with her so they could die together. However, he was ashamed of himself. He knew he didn't deserve the privilege of dieing next to his wife. So he ended up hanging himself in the end.

Tails got on his knees and just lost it. He cried uncontrollably in front of his father's body and beside Smokestack. He cried for what seemed like an eternity.

He eventually stood up with tears staining his face and his puffy red eyes showing how he clearly felt about this whole mess. That's when Tails heard Smokestack sigh. He turned to face the commander as he spoke.

"Amadeus Prower… I deeply apologize for what we had to put you through. No one, especially not you, should have to go threw what you did. Hopefully you'll be able to find peace in the afterlife." Smoke said as he put his hands together, closed his eyes, and prayed.

Tails quickly put his hands together and closed his eyes too. He and Smokestack stood there side by side and prayed.

The present Smokestack and Big had watched this whole time travel spectacle unfold from Coordinates 000 through Darkness' magical window. Big was crying in the background while Smoke simply stared at the scene in front of him. Both of them were praying for Amadeus Prower's well being in the afterlife.

"… That fox…" Smoke muttered under his breath as he watched the touching scene.

Eventually Past Smoke stopped praying and took off in the other direction. He felt bad for what happened but knew that this is what had to be done. His clan and everyone on this planet must remain safe.

Tails stood there with tears still staining his face. Darkness waved his hand and the light took them back to Coordinates 000.

Neither Big nor Smokestack were shocked to see the window disappear and the two travelers return.

Tails fell to his knees and just stared at the ground.

"Afterwards, Bear Mayor kept his end of the bargain to Smokestack here. He sent money to his quadrant every month for four years. Eventually Bear Mayor got a call from Metal Sonic to send the money to Central City as a means of sponsoring Westside Island as a good tourist route. Sonic got the word and headed over their expecting a vacation but instead ended up with a destroyed island and a bratty little fox. Smokestack then killed Bear Mayor for breaking their deal." Darkness explained.

Tails said nothing. Big said nothing. Smoke said nothing. Froggy didn't even croak.

"As for your parents, they were never given graves. No one was told of their death and so no one acknowledged it."

Everyone continued to remain quiet.

Darkness chuckled under his hood.

"It's too bad such a deep misunderstanding had to escalate into this."

Tails and Smoke immediately looked at Darkness in confusion.

"Misunderstanding? What misunderstanding?" Tails asked.

"HAHAHA! Don't you get it yet? I lied about your powers Tails!" Darkness said out loud.

"Wh-what?"

"It was all a part of my plan. Tricking Eggman into making those power-sucking devices so I can see how much can be taken at a time worked. Tricking you into thinking the power actually belonged to you worked. And tricking the Diox clan into thinking that the people who harbor the kitsune actually embraced their power of their own free will worked! Everything worked! Now it's too late!" Darkness was laughing like a mad man.

"What do you mean!?" Smoke yelled suddenly angered.

"I'm a deity whose lived for thousands of years due to a certain power mishap. My plan took so long to complete and finally it's here! I tricked the Diox clan into thinking that the people who were given the power of the kitsune actually wanted it! I did it so that they would attack those poor foxes without hesitation or remorse for their lives! The point was to make sure that there was always some fool who would aimlessly track down the kitsune and try to kill it. That way I could test the kitsune's abilities and power as it grew and grew." Darkness explained.

"TEST! You had a hand in killing my entire clan and the only reason was so you could TEST this monster's power!" Smoke stood up on both feet. He was completely recharged now.

"Yes. Truly. I tricked Eggman into creating those power-sucking devices so I could give him a false edge. Whenever those devices were used a bigger fraction of the kitsune's power was temporarily transferred into one of Eggman's flunkies. There were two flaws to his device however. One is that it was temporary and two was that the original owner could still control its power. I wanted to make sure that when I took the kitsune's power it would be forever lasting and could only be controlled by me. I noticed the control go down when Tails fought that Hang Nail fellow. It was a sign that the power was becoming more and more unstable!" Darkness laughed. Big understood what that meant.

"So when the power can't be controlled by Tails anymore it'll release it self and you'll take it!" Big blurted out. Darkness nodded.

"Exactly. And that leads to the biggest pawn of all." Darkness looked down at Tails who was staring at the ground and still on his knees.

"I tricked your father and yourself into thinking you were both dangers to the world. I did it so your father's affections for you wouldn't get in the way of your anger. I did it to you because I needed someone to hold on to the kitsune's power for me before I took it. You know, a carrying case."

Tails' body began to shake.

"How tragic. If you and your father only knew this…"

Tails stood up on both of his feet still shaking.

"Then they wouldn't have died! HAHAHAHA! Get it yet Miles!"

Tails just stood there.

"**YOUR PARENTS DIED FOR APSOLUTELY NO REASON!!"**

There was a short silence before Smokestack and Big both shouted in unison.

"WHAT!!"

"You snake!" Smoke shouted in tremendous fury.

"How could you!?" Big yelled back.

"YOU BASTARD!!"

The last one came from Tails. The fox looked up at Darkness with his pupils now red and his teeth turning into fangs. Darkness just stared at the angered fox with mild delight.

"**I'LL KILL YOU!!"**

_Hope you all enjoyed that origin chapter. I'm going to Disney Land next week for four days! See ya!_


	38. Chapter 38

**Silver Sheids:** Thanks, I think

**BlackxShootingxStar: **Disney World, Aquatica, and Universal were great! I'm glad to be back though.

**Kitsune-SuperFox: **That's how the villain rolls I guess. I checked out your story and it's starting to come along!

**Kitsune-awesomeness: **Turns out it was Disney World in Florida I was headed to. Oh well, I still had fun. Plus, Sonic in general is funny. That's why I like him.

**Raziel777: **Yes he does love screwing with people doesn't he? Glad you liked it!

**Kilatails: **Okay then... that's fine… I guess… Don't worry the next chapter is here.

**Lordoftheluis4: **Thank you! The chapter is here so now everyone's happy.

**Chapter 37: What's been lost and what shall be recovered**

"Damn all these stars!" Sonic was trying to get his running rhythm back on track as he recovered from his mildly unpleasant confrontation with a certain dusty wall. Now as he ran across the buildings trying to desperately catch up to Metal and Amy all these blasted stars he was seeing were messing with his vision.

He quickly regained his original passé and then some. Realizing how far back he must be he blasted himself forward. It still isn't good enough. He still can't see Metal.

"Fine then, next level here I come!" Sonic pulled out his ring and allowed himself the grace of becoming a spinning ball. He shot himself forward twice as fast as he was going earlier.

More robots from Eggman's army decided to get in his way without knowing they were and ended up being sliced in half, sideways, and somehow backwards.

"Hang on Amy! I'm coming!" Sonic was moving so fast that he couldn't even see what he was passing by anymore. All he saw was what lied ahead. Soon his efforts paid off as he saw the somewhat dizzy looking face of Amy Rose.

Amy, who was strapped to Metal's back, was getting very sick from moving so fast so suddenly. This was a nightmare but she couldn't do anything about it except play the role of damsel in distress. There was a positive side though. At least it was Sonic who was playing the hero. Who needs Superman? Screw that guy!

Eventually Amy summoned up enough courage to open her sealed shut eyes in order to see her hero blasting his way past rooftop after rooftop in order to reach her. It was a marvelous site indeed.

Sonic sped up to her and at the last second maneuvered himself so he was directly over Metal Sonic's head. Not skipping a beat he slammed his rolling body on to the oblivious robot's head.

Not a second later had he done so that Metal's face connected with the gravel in front of him. The robot skid across the ground as Sonic stopped his spinning spree and allowed himself to slide into a safe halt.

"Seems that you're a little bent out of shape. Mind if I take that girl off your hands?" Sonic said as he began walking toward Amy.

Metal quickly got up and kicked Sonic hard in the chin. He fell back on to the ground and Metal looked down at him with a disgruntled disposition.

"Yes… I do mind." Metal was fuming at the fact that Sonic was able to catch up to him even after all the crap he had put the hedgehog through. It didn't add up but he couldn't think about disappointment at a time like this.

Metal Sonic quickly got up and sped off. Sonic rubbed his chin quickly and ran after him. They were neck and neck once again. This time they fought as they ran making sure that what they hit were vital spots.

Eventually they ended up hitting each other across the face and almost fell off their pathway. This came into Metal Sonic's favor however, as he rammed into Sonic and knocked the yellow emerald out of the hedgehog's hand.

He quickly grabbed it and clutched it close to his body. The power he generated from it charged his battery up which caused him and Amy to accelerate at an unbelievable passé.

Sonic was mildly surprised but he wasn't about to give this one up yet. They were ¾ of the way there. The race was coming to a close.

_Coordinates 000: War Zone 6_

"HAHAHAHA! You're going to kill me? Where oh where have I heard that one before." Darkness watched as the fox's dangerous rising anger began to erupt.

With absolutely no hesitation or warning, not that Darkness needed one, Tails assaulted the power hungry monster with all that he had.

Each punch, kick, and well orchestrated maneuver Tails pulled was successfully blocked by the cloaked schemer. He had the upper hand and they both knew it.

The thought wasn't even respected by Tails though. He didn't care what kind of hand Darkness had. This guy was going to die for what he did to his parents.

Tails took faster and fiercer shots at Darkness that seemed to echo loudly across the barren landscape. They all barely fazed Darkness however.

"You're slipping Miles! You're becoming noticeably sloppy with your upbringing."

"Shut up!"

"Your anger will be your downfall."

"SHUT UP!"

"I hate doing things the hard way instead of the malevolent way and I hate it when idiots like you insist on doing it the hard way blatantly to my face!"

"Why won't you shut up!? Fall over! Kill yourself! DIE DAMNIT!" Kitsune Tails let his tears fly all over the place as he continued his attacks. The more attacks he made the further away from Smoke and Big they got.

"Now that I've finally got all the pawns where I need them to be, killing myself doesn't seem to FALL within my interest." Darkness chuckled.

"You know it's odd but I'm not exactly concerned with YOUR INTEREST! YOU KILLED MY PARENTS!"

"I didn't touch either of your parents! Bear Mayor was the one who shot your mom and your idiot dad hung himself. It's not my fault that they gave birth to such an awful son!" Darkness said rather harshly.

Tails just grew madder and picked up his punches and kicks. He let his teeth grind against each other and his tears were all over both of them.

"I wasn't an awful son! I'm not a worthless person! I've learned that now! Sonic showed me! My big brother is right! Not you!"

Darkness' chuckling continued. "You absolutely sure about that one? Because I-"

"You're dead!" Tails let his fist turn bright with power which not only made Darkness wince but it severely burned the area where Tails' fist had connected, which was his chest.

"Arrrgh! What the hell?!" Darkness was confused as to how or why this could've occurred so suddenly. The light emitting from Tails' body grew and grew until he was able to blast Darkness across the ground until he crashed into the side of a building.

As soon as he looked up he saw Tails' fist connect with his hidden face which caused him to fly back and crash through the building. He landed on his back and looked up with an expression of shock on his face.

"Perhaps I've been a bit careless!" Darkness grabbed Tails by the face and slammed him into the dirt. The fox struggled to get free but Darkness' raspy grip was too much for him. He wasted no time in tossing the fox out of the already crumbled building and following it through with a hard kick in his gut.

Tails flew a bit until he landed on the soil and rolled a bit. Some of the dirt accumulated in his already dirty fur as he stopped himself and let his kitsune self completely take over.

While on all fours Tails stared at his target as his fur turned a pitch black. The purple aurora was back and his mind was void of any thought other then 'kill Darkness.'

As he watched the fox the realization of something vital began to sink in. He had failed at something. Throughout this fox's entire journey he had tried to manipulate Tails and get him to turn against the world. He tired to get Tails to willingly join him. Sadly it was not to be.

But how? What was the obstacle that he didn't see coming that led to the fox's strong spirit. His spirit must've always there but what was the unwanted push that made it come full circle.

"That annoying older brother of yours…" Darkness mumbled.

"Did you say something about my brother you bastard?" Tails growled.

"No, of course not. It's not worth my time bad mouthing that idiot." Darkness let his hand light up as he made his merry way over to the fox who was still giving the deity a death stare while on all fours.

They continued to stare deeply into each other's souls by looking into each other's faces until they both launched off the ground and seemingly disappeared. Soon after black shockwaves and sonic booms were taking place all over the sky.

They were basically slamming against each other with their own out of control power. Even though the after effects of the collisions effected Tails more then Darkness the fact was that Darkness WAS being effected, and not in a good way.

They continued to slam into each other across the sky and throw blast after vicious blast of power at each other in hopes that the other would submit to their will.

To the misfortune of both of them neither submitted and neither ran out of steam.

"I guess this is why you were chosen Miles. Your unpredictable power fluctuations and your surprisingly large determination considering your young age are all very baffling to my superior mind." Darkness hovered across the sky that started to flash light cyan colored lighting across the sky.

"I don't care what you think of me now. Maybe I am your pawn or maybe I'm your ticket to a new life far removed from your pathetic and sad life of manipulating innocent people for your own enjoyment. You're a monster. You've destroyed so many innocent lives!"

"Yeah that's right! Tell me the obvious some more! I love hearing how malicious I am from other people!"

"I'd like nothing better than to see you die a horrible slow death but the terrible sad truth is that your way to dangerous to die slowly. It'll have to be an extremely quick one for anyone to accurately live in peace again. That ticks me off so much. Even in death you'll continue to taunt me and everyone else. The fact that you have to die quickly while everyone else you killed suffered in death. It's tragic!"

"You do of coarse realize that when I do get my way I'll have enough power to live until the end of this universe much less this planet."

"You won't get your way! I'll make sure of that!" Kitsune Tails said as the lightning continued to flash behind the two of them. Eventually the thunder showed up which was quickly followed by the rain.

Both of them acted as if neither of them noticed the sudden change in weather when it hit. It was obvious to both of them that an important point in history was about to unfold.

Tails shot himself at Darkness with the soul intention of ramming into him so hard that his corpse would be permanently dented. Darkness simply waved his hands and shards of dark light flew out at the kitsune.

Tails' quick maneuvering made it so that he was able to dodge most of them. A few he took head on but his resolve was too strong for him to fall back even for a second.

His dodging and spinning was amazingly executed and extremely well orchestrated. He was able to accurately come close to Darkness with the hold of actually being a threat this time.

Inches before he reached the deity's face, however, Darkness flung his black gloved hand upward which caused his nightshade aurora to completely overtake Tails' body.

The kitsune didn't expect this to happen and proved his obliviousness by falling back and getting engulfed in the huge tidal wave of black magic.

Tails struggled and struggled to get free but he couldn't find a suitable way of exiting. He couldn't break free though.

"Wh-What is this? What did you do to me you cloaked bastard!" Tails kept wobbling and struggling to break free of Darkness' strange grasp.

"This is nothing short of a disappointment…." Darkness' voice was firm and straight forward. He watched as Tails struggled and tried to claw his way out of the overpowered dark grip.

"I offered you so much! I gave you reason to live… respectfully." Darkness started to shift his position a bit.

"You gave me nothing but a whole bunch of grief! I hate you!" Tails let his tears fall as his angered face droned toward Darkness. He kept trying to reach the evil mastermind but this annoying blob of power kept pushing him back.

Smokestack, Big, and Froggy looked up at the scene that was taking place not at all reluctant that they could hear every word that was being uttered.

Smokestack in particular was doing his share of thinking. So many things were going through his head at once. Was him and his entire clan fooled so easily? Everyone that was under the influence of the kitsune's power throughout time was forced into it?

Darkness made the Diox clan believe that killing the foxes were the answer?

Was it true? After all this time his entire mission was a fluke! Smoke couldn't accept that! There was a reason he was chosen to remain alive long after the time Darkness said he should've died.

"There is something I have to do here! But if my mission isn't to kill the fox… then what is?" He whispered to himself.

Tails just kept struggling and struggling until eventually his tired arms gave out. His resisting movement stopped and he reluctantly let darkness completely immobilize his body.

Tails tried to at least squirm his way out but it was completely hopeless. Tails stopped trying and just let himself cry in frustration.

"Erm… ERM! GAH! D-Darkness! Darkness… "Tails let himself sink into a deep depression as the deity took his time coming close to the worn out kitsune.

"You and your rebellious mind think you can avoid my grasp. It's not just that blasted hedgehog's fault. It's all there fault. The echidna, the crocodile, the chameleon, the bee, the pink haired fan girl, the huge cat, the tiny frog, the bat thief and worst of all Smokestack all contributed to your rebellion. You're so unlike all the others. Unlike them when you were given nothing to live for you searched for something to live for instead of giving in to the will of the kitsune."

Tails just looked up at Darkness with an angered look.

"I look back at all the times I invaded your mind and tried to help you. I tried to convince you that emotions were meaningless and that the true essence of this planet's soul had to offer would become unleashed if the right choices were made. But your inconceivable 4-year-old brain couldn't help but take in all the joy and happiness you felt from acquiring an older brother."

Tails continued to stare at him thinking about all the friends he made during his course through this adventure. The rain continued to come down hard as Darkness continued.

"I feel like a father who's failed at raising his son. My teachings were all ignored by you simply because you made one annoying friend. Perhaps if I kill that friend it'll prove how messed up life is for someone when it's predetermined by fate! Wouldn't that be a joy Miles?"

Tails' fear of lightning and thunder seemed completely invisible as the man spoke. He focused all his emotions on what Darkness was saying and couldn't help but get even angrier.

"What you're saying wrong! All of it is wrong! My life isn't predetermined anywhere! I don't care what some dumb prophecy says! Sonic showed me that I can live a happy life if I seek one hard enough! People who cry and whine about how much their lives stink can still know what it feels like to have a good life I they want it bad enough that they're willing to live and try! If Sonic didn't show up on that island that day I might've jumped off that cliff and it would've been too late for me to realize it!"

"I see... well then-"

"And don't ever compare yourself to ANY kind of father figure. You're a heartless monster that no one will ever love or admire! Did you honestly think Sonic would make me his adopted brother if he thought I was the kind of person who'd willingly join someone as twisted as you!" Tails kept shouting at Darkness his thoughts and feelings.

" … " Darkness just stood there. For once Darkness had run out of things to say. Obviously this fox wasn't going to join him. He was a lost cause.

"Well! What is it? You gonna cry?" Tails yelled at Darkness' face.

"I would've hoped that even after that blasted hedgehog poisoned your mind that their was still a chance for you to see the truth. Maybe not… I guess I'll have to resort to my last means of manipulation." Darkness clutched his fists then uncurled them.

He made his way up to Tails and put his black colored gloved hand on his forehead. Suddenly a tiny black steam started to circle around Tails' head.

"What? What are you doing?" Tails asked in a slightly scared tone of voice.

"If I can't get you to join my side willingly… then I'll just force you to do as I say!" Darkness let his powers circulate around Tails which caused a high voltage infestation.

Darkness took his hand off of Tails' head and let the power flow. He knew that this was it! Despite how sad or angry Tails was in the end it was he who would be the victor.

Tails shouted in tremendous pain and the bolts of black electricity pierced his brain and took control of the part that initiated his free will.

"You should've headed me before this Miles! Emotions just cloud your better judgment, which is why this world is the way that it is! Humans and animals alike can't do what's extremely necessary for the world simply because a few mortals might die or one island may end up sunk. No one realizes that what really matters is the salvation of the entire planet! If a few people die in order to reach a much higher goal then they should all be grateful they died under the premise of a new age!"

"Once again your views are complete B.S!" Came an angered voice from below. As soon as Darkness looked down he saw a huge smoke projectile came straight at his face. Darkness dodged backward and the blast missed him but just barely.

"Smokestack! I would've thought that you, of all people would realize that my views are far from B.S!" Darkness sounded disappointed. Smoke didn't care though.

"As if I would care what a murderer like you things of me. You're beneath me!"

"I'm beneath you? Look who's spouting B.S now!"

Smoke had enough of Darkness' mouth. He fired blast after blast at the annoying deity until Darkness was dodging all over the place. Eventually Darkness grew tired of his constant movement.

"Take this!" Darkness shouted as his body lit up. He twirled around in the air a bit until he shot himself down like a runaway missile at Smokestack.

The commander, Big and Froggy got out of the way as fast as they possibly could in order to avoid the huge impact that was sure to follow.

He slammed into the ground and caused a huge black shockwave that sent Smoke, Big, and Froggy crashing into a crumbled building.

Darkness stood up and let his power flow across the area freely. He looked up at the satisfying scene above him. The fox was feeling the affects of his inescapable control.

First Tails started to lose all awareness of his surroundings. All that was left was him and his mind under siege.

That's when Tails started to forget things. He forgot his mission. He forgot about the Chaotix. He forgot about Amy. He forgot about Knuckles. Each thing he forgot got more and more close to the things his heart cared about. He tried to mentally reach out for the memories but to no avail.

He forgot about Sonic's parents. He forgot about HIS parents. Then he forgot about Sonic.

The only one who remained in his mind was Darkness. He didn't understand what was happening next but his extreme anger for Darkness was suddenly being pushed into a prison cell in his mind. That anger was locked in a mental cell located in the deepest, darkest, and most secluded part of his brain.

What took its place were admiration, devotion, and respect. He wanted to be with Darkness. He wanted to serve him. He wanted to do whatever it took to see to his new master's happiness.

On the surface Darkness smiled to himself when he realized that the operation had been successful. He made a gesture with his index finger that basically said that he was to come to him. The mass of dark light slowly floated down until it was directly in front of Darkness.

With a wave of his hand Tails' restraint was gone. The fox was suspended off the ground a bit until his feet eventually shifted down and touched the ground. He had a blank stare on his face. The real Tails was locked away inside his own mind and there was no way to break free.

"Hello Miles. How are you feeling?" Darkness asked as if he really cared. Tails didn't answer. "It's all right. You can speak." He said.

Tails looked up and opened his mouth to speak. "I'm… I'm grateful to you sir… for showing me the truth." Kitsune Tails spoke with zero hints of emotion in his voice.

"You bet you are." Darkness put his arm on Tails' shoulder and a second later they were headed off into the sky. Smokestack, Big, and Froggy looked up and watched as they were leaving.

"What is this? Another alliance… they way it always was. It was always just mind control and manipulation that drove the previous users of the kitsune's power down the wrong path. Me and my clan killed them thinking they willingly joined them…" Smokestack sounded ashamed.

Darkness and Tails sped off across the sky leaving the three alone. Smoke was thinking out loud trying to understand what really went on after all these years.

"Usually our clan would've done everything in our power to help those who had gone astray. But when our people started to die out we lost sight of our original way of doing things. We, the heroes of our time, were being consumed by hatred for the very people we set out to help. That became the new way we did things and it eventually made its way to me. All that time… completely wasted." Smokestack just stood there confused and ashamed.

That's when someone finally spoke back in a reply to all of his ranting.

"I don't think it was a waste of time." Big spoke up. Smokestack turned to face him.

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, really. If what that cloaked guy said was true and you lived longer then you were suppose to in this weird prophecy them there must still be a reason your still here."

"And what reason is that? I've just now figured out that the fox is innocent. There is no reason to kill him anymore."

"No, but the kitsune thing inside him is still dangerous. Maybe the reason your still here… is because your real mission was to recover your clan's lost way." Big suggested trying to sound like he was making sense.

Smokestack thought about it long and hard. Throughout this entire journey he was out to kill Tails. He thought that was his mission. Now that mission was pointless. However, the kitsune power inside of him still needed to be taken care of.

"Maybe your right… but if what you say is true… then my real mission here… isn't to destroy the fox… it's to help him." Smoke and Big stood there with the same look on their face. It was look that said 'what are we going to do now?'

Smokestack faced the direction Tails and Darkness had flown off in and made his decision.

"Okay Big, Froggy, we've got a new mission!" He shouted. Big made a salute and Froggy just yipped happily on Big's head.

"Yes sir!"

"We need to reach that castle and snap the fox out of whatever Darkness did to him. All we have to do is get past the dangerous robots and armed G.U.N soldiers. Make our way inside the huge war zone developing in the castle. Run to the tallest balcony in that extremely huge castle. Find some way to snap Tails out of his trance. Get that annoying kitsune power out of him. Then formulate a plan to kill an evil deity with unmatched power who's lived for thousands of years. Then orchestrate that plan to perfection before we die. Do you think we can do that?" Smoke said slightly chuckling at how hopeless that plan seemed.

Big seemed to stutter with his response.

"Erm… I guess so. But are you sure we can… WAIT did you just call him Tails?" Big sounded shocked. Smoke was shocked to. Throughout this whole thing he referred to Tails as 'the fox'. Never once had he uttered his nickname.

"I guess I did. Oh well, don't worry about that now. Now there's no way we can pull this mission off alone-"

"Obviously…"

"-So we'll have to initiate that annoying hedgehog's help at some point. If we're all clear on the plan then let us move out men!"

"Gotcha!" Big smiled then ran after Smoke as he ran off.

_Coordinates 000: War Zone 14_

Sonic and Metal Sonic were zooming across the landscape at an ever increasing speed. It was a speed Amy could hardly take and it made her feel dizzy.

Sonic on the other hand was enjoying the rush. He had never raced someone so fast before. Sure Metal had his yellow emerald but he still had his red one and the ring. He could still win.

Sonic charged up the power from both his ring and red chaos emerald and sonic-boomed about 50 times in one second just to catch up to Metal. When he did however, he blasted right past him.

"What? How does he keep doing that? That's it! I need to accelerate more! I must go faster!" Metal sped up as a way to try and reach the annoying hedgehog that was now but a few meters ahead.

Amy grew even more uncomfortable on Metal Sonic's back when she felt something odd. She was burning up! No it wasn't her. It was Metal Sonic!

"Is he… overheating?" Amy asked herself. "Of course! Now I get it!"

Sonic was smiling to himself as he kept running. He turned his head around and stuck his tongue out at Metal Sonic as he sped up.

"Sorry buddy but theirs no way a robot would ever beat me in a race! HAHAHAHA!"

This got Metal Sonic fuming again. How dare this flesh and blood creature tell him who's going to win and who isn't. He's faster! He's much faster! He will win!

"Zip it hedgehog! I'm much faster then you and you know it!"

"It's not all about speed you know." Sonic shouted back. This confused the robot.

"What do you mean it's not all about speed? It's a race!"

"I know! But in a race as long as this you've gotta have endurance! Let's face it no robot will ever out run me!"

Metal was both angry and confused. Of course he had endurance! He's a robot!

_'He's faster then your average animal, I'll give him that but he knows nothing about what true speed is! He was given a gift and he carelessly exploits and flaunts his speed thinking that no one can surpass him. No one can beat him! Well I can! I'll show this little demon that you can't win by being overconfident!'_ Metal thought inside his head.

Metal closed his eyes and tried his hardest to regain control over his composure. He couldn't let this blue monstrosity set him off. As if he knew anything about speed!

Feeling better he opened his eyes only to see something that not only shocked him inside and out but rekindled his anger and doubled it as well.

Sonic was smirking and running backwards in front of Metal Sonic!

"B-BACKWARDS! You're racing backwards! ARE YOU STUPID! Y-YOU"RE PLAYING WITH ME!!"

Sonic just chuckled and watched as Metal got all bent out of shape. Amy even laughed a bit which Metal took notice of.

"All right! That's it! We're almost to war zone 15 and it's time I pulled out all the stops." Metal summoned up his dark blue chaos emerald in his hand. Now he had two!

Sonic's face showed obvious discomfort when he saw it as well.

Metal clutched both emeralds in his hands and fired up even more power. He rocketed straight for Sonic who was still running backwards. The hedgehog maneuvered quickly and got out of the way so that the overpowered metal monstrosity could zoom past.

"All right. I think this has gone on long enough. Say bye bye Metal Sonic." Sonic grinned as he held up his ring and red chaos emerald. He fired himself at Metal but it was obvious to both who had more power.

Metal's body fluctuated with both red and blue light as he sped on. Sonic's feet were in ball form and his both glowed red and yellow.

They were both closing in on the castle and Sonic was still behind. Amy was getting worried. Would her hero lose? That just can't happen.

Sonic, however, was very confident. He knew that by exerting all that power Metal was setting himself up for failure. All it took was a little more of a push…

"Yes! I see it! The castle is just ahead! I win! I am the victor hedgehog!" Metal Sonic's excitement made him oblivious to the loud pop he felt in his chest.

Eventually though, Metal did realize something was amiss. That's when it hit him. His circuits were frying! His body was breaking apart!

"What is this? But how-?"

"It's your own fault you know!" Sonic called out from behind. Metal turned to face the blue hedgehog with a confused expression on his face.

"What do you mean? What did you do?" Metal was spazzing out.

'I didn't do anything. You did it all yourself. I told you a robot, no matter how fast they are, could never beat me in a race. You overpowered yourself and then overexerted your power. A robot such as you could never have the soul it would take to contain the amount of energy in a chaos emerald, let alone two!" Sonic explained feeling really giddy.

"S-so what!? I still win! The castle is close! Victory will be mine and the girl will die! I'm better then you hedgehog!" Metal Sonic didn't at all admit it but he was certainly scared.

"No I don't think so. See ya Metal! I really enjoyed our race!" Sonic revved up his feet and let his entire body take the shape of a yellow and red glowing ball.

Sonic was coming up on Metal's now broken body. He was planning on destroying him here and now.

"Wait Sonic! If you attack him like that you'll hit me!" Amy cried in fear.

"Don't worry Amy! Just hold your legs up and keep them there! I'm gonna do this super quick!" Sonic shouted as he came forward.

"Okay! I trust you!" She yelled back as she lifted her legs. It hurt because it felt like she was doing that annoying six-inches exercise.

"Good!" Sonic gave himself a nice boost of power and rocketed right into Metal's already dismantled back with him barely missing Amy.

"No! You can't do this! I'm the faster one!" Metal cried.

"Whether or not you're faster on your feet has already been established. You're not. I am!" Sonic increased his pressure on Metal Sonic's fuming back and pretty soon he was able to rip right through the robot's stomach.

Because of the huge amount of power Metal Sonic was summoning up during their race a huge explosion of the now released power took place and Metal's body was all but obliterated.

Amy flew into the air screaming as the explosion sent her flying far from Metal's body. Sonic chuckled and held out his hands. With one quick motion he caught her in his hands. The race was over.

"Oh Sonic! I knew you'd win! I just knew it!" She shouted as she hugged her hero around the neck.

"AMY! Please stop! I can't breath!" Sonic shouted as he forced his feet to skid to a harsh stop. By harsh I mean Sonic crashed into another wall, this time with Amy in his hands.

They fell backward and landed on to the ground with dazed looks until the stars flew away. Sonic got up, shook his head, and then offered Amy his hand. Amy gladly took it and pulled Sonic into another bone crushing hug.

"Boy Sonic, you sure showed that imposter whose boss!" Amy happily squealed as she kept hugging.

"Th-thanks… I guess… what did I hit anyway?" Sonic looked in front of him and saw a huge castle with a bright purple aurora flowing around it. Judging by the sound of the explosions taking place inside the war has been relocated to this huge castle.

They were in so much awe by the castle's huge figure that they barely noticed Metal Sonic's parts falling on the ground behind them.

"Well… I guess this is it." Sonic said with a silent voice.

"What do we do now?" Amy asked.

"I guess… we go inside and get to the top… hopefully I'll meet up with Tails there soon." Sonic suggested.

"Okay then." Amy took out her hammer and swung hard at the door. It flew off its hinges on contact and slammed into one of Eggman's robots which destroyed it.

Sonic made an impressed whistle to which Amy chuckled at. They were surrounded by robots and G.U.N soldiers but neither felt any pressure on them. They both knew they were obviously stronger.

"Look out everybody because the fastest thing alive is comin at cha!" Sonic shouted as he dived into the crowd of surprised war participants.

Behind them, in the empty space where the doors were whacked off, two more doors magically resurfaced in their place.

**A while later as the majority of the war continued inside the castle Shoui and her group eventually invaded level 1 of the castle. No soon after she did had Eggman arrive at the castle on his Egg mobile.**

"I can't believe you mechanical bozos actually got beat by one person, and a woman no less!" Eggman shouted at Bocoe and Decoe as they rode to the castle.

"Sorry doctor." Decoe sulked.

"If it makes you feel better we did successfully get our lead of robot troops into the castle before you handed control over to Bokkun." Bocoe pointed out.

"Lucky for you it does! The fox should be headed there as well however this castle has an interesting set up so I don't think we'll have to worry about him reaching the top before we do." Eggman smirked.

"Why is that doctor?" Decoe asked while hovering over the doctor's shoulder.

"It's because… after examining the castle and using the information on this kitsune to my advantage I've been able to figure out that some sort of magic prevents people from entering the castle or having access to its roof from anywhere other then the front door. This makes it impossible to make it to the top without having come here before anyone else… at least that's true if you're not a killer… which everyone here basically is."

"Then what's the point of being here first then?" Bocoe asked.

"The point is that though they all no how to kill we know how to kill back!"

"That just puts us back at where we started." Decoe said.

"-With me as the unquestioned victor!" Eggman shouted.

"But-" The robots began before Eggman turned around and shouted.

"I said _unquestioned_ victor!"

"Yes sir."

"HOHOHOHOHO!" Eggman laughed as they made their way to the castle's front doors and rode on in.

Meanwhile flying overhead Darkness and Tails were overlooking the empty war zones. Dead bodies and destroyed robots were everywhere. It was almost a shame that such a thing had to take place.

"Before we continue Miles, I must first get rid of the unnecessary terrain. With most of the live participants in the castle having all these destroyed buildings around just seems like a waste of space." Darkness waved his hand and a few smoky numbers aligned themselves in front of him.

"102? That's how many participants are left in this war? Hmmm… it'll be interesting to see who reaches the top first. But as I've stated we must first get rid of this depressing scenery. Everything must go… except the castle." Darkness waved his hand and about a second later the landscape began to dissolve!

Then he stopped and thought for a second.

"No… everything will be dissolved except for the castle AND the place where you so graciously defeated that jaguar. That way he can still live and die a miserable long death. Yes, I like that plan better."

The dirt, the buildings, the dead bodies, and busted robots were all being turned to black particles of evil magic.

"The people who haven't yet made it to the castle but are still alive will be taken to the front doors of it immediately. Whether they choose to enter or not is their call but those who don't will be obliterated just like everything else." Darkness continued to shun away all the unnecessary land and resources as people began popping up at the front doors of the castle one by one.

_Hang Nail's location_

The jaguar was still unconscious and completely oblivious to the landscape being dissolved around him. The evil magic deliberately left alone the area he lied unconscious on so that Tails' prose that he'd die a slow and painful death stayed in effect.

He had only himself to blame.

_Coordinates 000: Prower Castle level 1_

Knuckles, Rouge, the Chaotix, Shimon, and a few soldiers and robots were all confused as they were transported from one dusty area to another one with the huge castle plopped in front of them.

"What is this? How'd we get here?" Knuckles spoke up as he began to notice the land dissolving into thin air around them.

"What's happening here?" Espio shouted as he backed away from the edges of the still dissolving particles.

Everyone was confused and scared as to why this was all suddenly happening when a voice of pure understanding showed up.

"This is Darkness' doing." Came a clear and calm voice standing in front of the castle doors.

Everyone turned to face the doors and spotted an orange two-tailed fox with a glazed over half open eyes.

They all knew who he was. The soldiers were sent to destroy him. The robots were sent to capture him. Knuckles and the others set out to help him.

"It's Tails…" Knuckles shouted as he ran up to the fox in excitement. The Chaotix and Shimon did as well.

"Why is his fur black?" Rouge shouted at them from behind. Knuckles and the rest all stopped to look at her then back at Tails. She was right. His fur was black. Not only that but it was glowing purple. Knuckles was the first to get the nerve to walk over to him.

"Tails… what happened to you?" He asked a bit concerned.

"Darkness has decided to completely rid this place of its unnecessary landscape. All of it will be obliterated except the castle and the area where I defeated Hang Nail. Those of you who wish to continue the war inside must come through these doors immediately or else you will be dissolved along with this land." Tails explained in a very straight forward voice.

"What? Tails what's gotten into you?" Knuckles grabbed Tails' shoulders. However as soon as he did a minor shockwave was sent out and it caused Knuckles to fly backward. He would've fallen off the dissolving edge of Coordinates 000 had Rouge not grabbed his hand.

"Those of you who wish to participate should head inside immediately. Those who want to quit should step into the dissolving light particles." Tails pointed behind them all.

One particular soldier slammed his gun against the ground in anger.

"That's it! I've had it with this idiotic war! It's not worth it anymore!" He shouted.

"It wasn't worth it in the first place." Vector said back.

"All war is pointless." Espio said to him.

Tails ignored all the comments and turned back to the soldier.

"So do you quit?" Tails asked. The soldier looked at Tails and turned back to the dissolving scene.

"You know what… I do… but I'm still entering the castle." The soldier took a step forward but bumped into a force field. "Hey what is this? He asked as he felt around.

Coordinates 000 dissolved behind him as he tried banging his way through the obstacle in his way.

"Darkness won't allow anyone through that won't participate in his 'fun'." Tails merely stated as he watched the soldier struggle.

"Wait! I didn't say that I wanted to die!" The soldier shouted back.

"Tails let him through!" Knuckles shouted.

"It's Darkness' doing, not mine." Tails meekly said.

The soldier wailed out for help as he was eventually dissolved along with Coordinates 000.

"Tails is scary again." Charmy cried as he snuggled next to Vector. Knuckles couldn't believe what he just witnessed. That's when he remembered that name Tails mentioned.

"Darkness… you mean that jerk we met back at the Ice Region! Why is Tails working for him?" Knuckles couldn't understand it.

"I don't know but if what I do know is if we don't want to end up like that soldier we need to hurry inside!" Rouge yelled as she flew up to the doors and stood beside Tails.

"Everyone else here has every intention of fighting when they get inside." Rouge said to Tails.

"How would I be sure?" Tails said.

That's when a very familiar voice to all of them spoke up from behind a small crowd of soldiers.

"Because we all have something to destroy in there. The robots have the soldiers. The Soldiers have the robots… and the rest of us have Darkness!" Smokestack said as he and Big walked up to Tails.

Tails just stared at Smokestack and the commander did likewise. After a few silent seconds Tails stepped aside and the double doors opened.

"You may all enter." He informed before teleporting away.

Knuckles, The Chaotix, and Shimon all ran up to Smokestack, Rouge, and Big with looks of concern on their faces.

"You… what happened to Tails? Do you know?" Shimon asked Smokestack.

"He's being controlled by Darkness. But don't worry I'll snap him out of it." Smokestack said.

"You're not still planning on killing him are you?" Rouge asked.

"No… now I'm planning on doing the opposite. The fox stays alive. I'll make sure of it!" Smokestack said as he ran inside.

Big and Froggy smiled at Rouge who merely shrugged and ran after him.

"Ummm… did we miss something?" Vector asked.

"Don't care! Don't care! Tails need help!" Charmy buzzed.

"Charmy's right Vector!" Espio said.

"Yeah! Once we start the job we finish the job. That's out policy. We're Team Chaotix!" Vector shouted as the three of them headed inside.

"Do you think that the land that's being dissolved will stay that way forever?" Shimon asked Knuckles.

"No… it'll all probably come back once we defeat Darkness… but until then all the soldiers' bodies will lie unburied." Knuckles grabbed Shimon's hand and ran him inside.

The rest of the soldiers and robots just stared in confusion before they all just ran straight inside.

Pretty soon all of Coordinates 000 is temporarily dissolved until the war is over.

**There are ten levels in Prower Castle**

**Level 1: Knuckles, Shimon, the Chaotix, Rouge, Smokestack, Big, and Froggy are all here.**

**Level 2: Sonic and Amy are here.**

**Level 6: Eggman, Bocoe, and Decoe are here.**

**Level 8: Bokkun and Shoui are here.**

**Level 9: Darkness and Tails have sped through all the levels using magic and evasiveness**

**Participants left: 85**

_Prower castle: Level 1_

It's basically the biggest war zone taking place through out the castle. Very few have been able to make it past the first level and those who have haven't made it far before death overtook them.

Vector and Espio successfully took out 15 robots in their way already. Charmy defeated what he could, which were G.U.N soldiers.

Shimon however had to duck and weave through crashes and explosions to stay alive. Knuckles ended up getting in the obstacle that tried to do the child harm more than once. Eventually he found a way to use this to his advantage.

As the robots began to gang up on him and Shimon he was able to destroy them in a pattern that got him closer to the stair case that lead to the next level.

Rouge and Big were easily defeating both soldiers and robots but Smoke found his job a bit tougher due to him still not at 100 percent power like he thought he was. He eventually came across what Knuckles was trying to do and took it upon himself to jump in and destroy the more noticeable ones in his way.

Now Knuckles and Shimon were backed up against the stair case with Smoke blocking anyone else's path.

"Thanks man. I'll meet you upstairs." Knuckles placed Shimon against the wall beside him and headed on up the stair case. Since he was almost as fast as Sonic it shouldn't take him long to reach the next level.

"Now this is fun! We should do this more often!" Vector yelled to Espio as he punched out another soldier.

"I'd probably agree if in any other situation punching out G.U.N soldiers weren't against the law." Espio said as he sliced a robot in half with his kunai. "Now robots on the other hand…"

The fighting continued until the first level was finally secure.

**Partcipants left: 42**

_Prower Castle: Level 2_

"I really wish I'd known we'd be facing this when we came here Sonic!' Amy yelled in both excitement in fear. Excitement streamed from being carried by Sonic. Fear streamed from being almost hit by swinging pendulums.

"Dodging giant axes suspended on sticks weren't on my 'to do list' today but then again neither was facing a deity over 1000 years old." Sonic shouted in excitement as he jumped past pendulum after swinging pendulum in excitement.

This was certainly fun, at least to him.

"Sonic! Look out!" Amy shouted. Apparently Sonic had jumped off balance and was headed straight for a pendulum swinging toward their open pathway through.

"WHOA!" Sonic stopped dead in his tracks just before the pendulum took out his tiny nose. The hedgehog sighed then quickly ran through the rest to reach the stair case.

He set Amy down and watched as she traveled up the steps.

"Aren't you coming Sonic?" She asked as she poked her head down with concern. Sonic was poking his nose and examining it closely to make sure it was all there before responding.

"Yeah, I'm fine!" Sonic shouted back then traveled on up the steps to the next level.

_Prower Castle: Level 6_

"I must admit this is an interesting set up for a castle! HOHOHO!" Eggman laughed.

"How can you be laughing doctor? Arrows are shooting at us from random directions! This is all just luck now!" Decoe cried.

"Luck is exciting especially when the situation is dire! Oh listen to me. I sound like that blasted hedgehog. HOHOHO!" He blasted his Egg Mobile through the room filled with holes that were now shooting poison tipped arrows out at them.

"Of course dodging the arrows doesn't necessarily mean we can't get poisoned. If an arrow were to fly directly over my head then at the speed it was going the poison would most likely fly off and hit me. That's' why my movements seem too dynamic if you're wondering." Eggman sounded like he was truly enjoying this the way he talked.

Bocoe and Decoe however just didn't want an arrow through their brains.

_Prower Castle: Level 8_

Bokkun and Shoui floated in front of each other waiting for the other to make a move. The room they were in was filled with steel industry presses that came down at unexpected times. Not only that but the floor was covered with poison spikes that you had to walk along in order to reach the other side.

The spikes were sharp enough to pierce through metal so wearing shoes alone won't do you much good. However, Bokkun had a jet pack and Shoui had her energy platform.

"Hmph! I'm not moving from this spot missy! If you want to get to Tails then you're gonna have to get past me!"

"Why would a squirt like you care whether or not I got to Tails?" Shoui asked while tugging on her gloves.

"Dr. Eggman worked to hard to make sure that fox was his to control and after making it past 7 levels I'm not about to lose now!" Bokkun said with his hands on his hips.

Shoui closed her eyes and chuckled which turned into a laugh she had to bring her hand up to get under control.

"You certainly are a brave one I'll give you that much! But this ends here!" She shouted as her hands glowed purple.

'_I'm so ready! After braving all that stuff I know I have what it takes to win!'_ Bokkun huffed as the fight in the room filled with giant steel presses began.

"SHOUI FLATURE!" Shoui shouted as she sent a huge blast of her power out at Bokkun. The half-robot freaked out and dodged as best he could. Her attack ended up hitting the wall which triggered one of the steel presses to slam down on the spikes.

The spikes ripped through the metal as it hit. Then the presses moved back up and the punctured holes magically disappeared.

Shoui and Bokkun saw this and they were both a bit shocked by it.

"Damn this castle is freaky! Oh well. Eat this little punk!" Shoui shouted as she lashed out at Bokkun again.

_Prower castle: Level 2_

Knuckles entered the pendulum room and scoffed at it.

"Oh please not this old trick!" Knuckles ran straight through the room. Whenever a pendulum came his way he simply punched through it with no trouble at all. That's the way to do things. At least if you're Knuckles.

_Prower Castle: Level 3_

Sonic and Amy came to a room filled with acid and highly unstable looking platforms. Sonic couldn't help but smirk at this.

"It's like a video game! Come on Amy." Sonic lifted her up and made his merry way across.

_Prower castle: Level 7_

Dr. Eggman, Bocoe and Decoe have succeeded in making it to Level 7. However, what they found there was a shock.

It was nothing but a bottomless pit. It was the biggest room they've been in yet. There were no walls in here other then the one you needed to climb up the staircase at making the triangle jump impossible. The only way anyone could get across was if the flew across… which Eggman can do!

"It's a good thing that the people who made this didn't consider that we would be able to fly in the future." Bocoe said. Eggman wasn't so sure however.

"No… they're smarter then that. I know it. Something else here is going on." Eggman said silently but loud enough for Bocoe and Decoe to here.

"Come on doctor! Can't we just count our blessings and move on beforeyou jynx us?" Decoe asked.

Not a second later had he said that had a huge fireball shot up from the pit they were hovering over. It took the three by surprise so much that they barely dodged it before they were fried.

Bocoe and Decoe were holding each other in fear while the doctor laughed.

"Ah, I see. Stay in a certain place to long and they hit you with fire. Good. Good. Very impressive!" Eggman smiled as he flew across happily. In his mind he knew Sonic would have a dissapointing field day trying to get past all this. It made him feel so good inside.

_Prower Castle Level 9:_

Darkness stood by the staircase of the empty room with Tails beside him. He had his arms crossed and his head was facing forward. He was ready.

Whoever had the misfortune of stepping through that door would be given the honor of facing Tails in combat. This was to be the Level 9 challenge.

"And when the fight is done I would have all I need to release your true power and then steal it!" Darkness said to himself. He had already foreseen who would enter through that door first.

No matter how close anyone was to it. No matter who was traveling up the stairs right now. The person who will walk through that door first will defidently be…

Sonic the Hedgehog.

**Participants left: 23**

_**Sorry if it took forever to upload. Wait patiently for the next one okay. If there were any mistakes I'm sorry. My computer keeps perventing me from saving sometimes so all the edits get erased. Plus I really don't feel like going through all this again. I'm tired. Review Please!**_


	39. Chapter 39

_Here I am again. Hope you like it._

**Kilatails:** I tried to update soon at least

**Lordoftheluis4:** Yes! And I'm about to do it once again.

**Molto Alesato:** Wow! Rambling! Cool.

**Shinju the Rabbit:** I know Tails has come across a lot of misfortune. But don't worry he'll hopefully be all right.

**Kitsune-awesomeness:** Yes it has. It's so beautiful seeing such a small story escalate into something like this.

**Kitsune-superfox:** I did in fact get that from Sonic X. I glad you noticed. As for the rest you should probably just keep reading to find out.

**Silver Sheilds:** Video games are still awesome though.

**Tails and Cream:** Thanks. I'm glad it's been getting better.

**Raziel777:** Metal was a jerk so I had him get beat badly. I love stories with suspense and ones that don't take forever to get into the interesting stuff. I was gunning for something like this.

**You'veBeenJayed:** Really! That's amazing! Thanks! Here's the more you wanted.

**Chapter 38: Levels of Peril**

_Prower Castle: Level 3_

"SONIC!" Shouted Knuckles from across the acid terrain. Apparently he had made it far enough to actually catch up to Sonic and Amy.

Sonic almost lost his balance when his name was called but amazingly kept himself together. He turned around to face the person and beamed back at him with a happy smile.

"KNUCKLES! How'd you get here so quick?" Sonic shouted back almost forgetting the mission at hand.

Knuckles, being more focused than Sonic, decided not to answer and quickly made his way over to Sonic's location. Not only that but he passed by the hedgehog completely which completely confused him to no end. At least until he remembered they were on a mission.

"Hey! Wait up!" Sonic ran into the next room with Amy still basking in the glory of being in her hero's arms.

What Sonic saw when they made their way up there almost made him drop the girl in his arms.

"This castle is just straight up freaky!" Sonic eyed what was in front of him and Amy. The room was filled with tiny little volcanoes with snakes made entirely out of fire coming out of them and heading into the next one.

"EWW! Sonic I hate snakes!" Cried Amy.

"Lava snakes? COOL!" Sonic said as he was about to speed his way through.

"SHHH!" Came a certain echidna who was far ahead of them then expected.

"Huh? Oh hey Knuckles!" Sonic shouted back obviously not grasping the concept of being quiet. Knuckles angrily brought his voice to a whisper.

"Don't make a sound Sonic. If you do this place will fill to the brim with lava snakes." Knuckles said silently. Luckily Sonic was able to hear him.

"How do you know?"

"I just have this feeling. Move slowly." He warned then made his way across. Sonic set Amy down and put his finger up to his mouth.

"Shhh." Sonic warned and Amy nodded. They slowly made their way across the steam filled room with Amy barely able to keep herself from screaming out in fear from all the snakes she was seeing.

By now Knuckles had made it to the staircase. He was going to wait for Sonic but the hedgehog made a gesture with his hands that told him to keep going.

Eventually Sonic made it to the staircase and was waiting for Amy. Maybe he should've just taken her across like last time. That certainly would've been easier. Oh well. She looked like she was doing fine on her own except she was taking way to long.

Amy looked closely at her feet to make sure no snake slithered on her new boots. She didn't want slime or lava or any combination of the two on her new attire. It would simply be unsanitary.

That's when the absolute most devastating thing happened. One was coming up to her boots! No! It couldn't! She wouldn't let it damnit!

Amy raised her hammer and slammed it on to the poor lava snake hard. Nothing happened until a few seconds later when all the snakes poked their heads out of the small volcanoes and stared at Amy with angered looks.

"… What! These are new boots and he was about to mess them up!" Amy shouted back. The snakes said nothing back as every last one of them slithered out and attacked the pink hedgehog.

Amy, of course no longer decided to stick around and made a break for it. She ran past Sonic and straight upstairs to the next level. Sonic quickly followed her as he didn't want to end up lava snake food either.

_Prower Castle: Level 7_

Eggman was zooming across the empty room with the huge bottomless pit below them with incredible ease. He could almost smell the victory waiting for him at the end of the long room.

_Prower Castle: Level 5_

Knuckles had made it to a strange room with spiked explosives laid out across the ground. The strange thing was that the top of the spiked balls were shooting out flames toward the ceiling. The only problem was is that there was no ceiling! The flames were just shooting into blackness.

"Or… if there is a ceiling then it's a lot higher up then expected… and if that's the case…" Knuckles went over to one of the spiked balls and cautiously lifted it up. He then set it down on one of the other spiked balls and got on top of it. Then he waited.

_'If I'm right then the fire should send both me and this explosive flying high!'_ Knuckles waited and waited until finally a large rumbling was heard underneath one of the spiked balls. He hoped it wasn't the one he was sitting on or his butt would get a crater full of flames.

Luckily it was the one below the one he was sitting on and the fire immediately impacted the ball Knuckles was sitting on. The strain was so hard to get by but eventually the fire shot the ball and Knuckles straight up into the air.

He was flying toward the unseen ceiling at an incredibly fast rate and he couldn't wait to see what lied ahead for him.

All of a sudden the ball he was sitting on stopped going upward and it looked about ready to fall back down. Knuckles however couldn't allow himself to go down with it. He immediately got up and jumped straight up into the air. Hopefully he'd have something to grab on when he got there.

_Prower Castle: Level 7_

Eggman was flying across the pit dodging flame after flame. His maneuvering skills were indeed the best. He couldn't wait to reach his prize. However something unexpected decided to make its presence known at what could possibly be the worst most possible time.

Knuckles flew up and out of the bottomless pit below him and crashed head first into the Eggmobile. This act caught Eggman, Bocoe, and Decoe off guard and their small little mobile started to rock back and forth from the friction Knuckles' impact caused.

The echidna grabbed on to the Eggmobile's long red spike that jetted out from the bottom and climbed his way to the cockpit where Eggman, Bocoe, and Decoe was.

"What the hell was that?" Eggman shouted as he looked over the edge of his mobile. What he saw wasn't pleasing to his eyes at all.

"Hello there Eggman." Knuckles climbed on top of the control panel then looked down at him with amazing anger hinting on his face.

"ARGH! KNUCKLES! How'd you get here so quick!" Eggman shouted ignoring the freaked out expressions on his two robot's faces.

"I'd outta knock that Egg head of yours clear off." Knuckles said while threateningly raising a fist.

"Now calm down Knuckles! There's no need to get nasty! We're just trying to make a living by… you know living!" Eggman yelled with his hand up as a pathetic defense.

"What level is this anyway?" Knuckles asked feeling a bit shaken.

"Level 7 and counting now would you mind getting off my Eggmobile!" Eggman shouted.

"Nope! You're taking me across this thing! If you don't I'll just punch you out of this thing and you'll fall all the way back down to level 5 and have to go through all that crap again without your precious machine! " Knuckles said as he hoped in between Bocoe and Decoe.

Eggman visualized what would become of him if he were to plummet into level 5 being the old man he is. The chances for survival were extremely slim if he were to fall. Not to mention he'd be trapped within a crazy ass castle with countless booby traps and poisonous animals.

"… Hmmm… all right fine… but no backseat driving or I'll blow your head off with my plasma canon!" Eggman said as he drove forward.

_Prower Castle: Level 5_

Sonic and Amy were easily able to breeze through level 4 and 5 simply because it wasn't level 4 and 5 they were worrying about. No, it was level 3 that caused them all the worry. The reason being that they're still being chased by those crazy lava snakes!

"I really wish you knew how to control that strange temper of yours Amy!" Sonic yelled sort of frazzled by all this.

"I'm sorry! Next time I'll be sure to cut out the rich girl stuff!" Amy basically screamed back as they made their way into Level 6.

Sonic quickly took notice of all the tiny little holes in the walls of the room. That didn't give off a 'good thing' vibe.

It was rightfully so as a bombardment of poison tipped arrows started to shot out at Sonic and Amy.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me!" Sonic scooped Amy up in his arms and they raced across the room with lava snakes chasing after them and annoying deadly arrows shooting across the area.

Thankfully most of the arrows eluded Sonic and Amy and they were able to make it to the staircase on the other side. The hedgehog skidded to a stop and set Amy down.

"Why'd we stop? Those snakes are still after us right?" Amy said in a confused tone of voice. Sonic shook his head and pointed back into the room.

Amy looked in and almost laughed. The arrows had successfully pierced through all the lava snakes. It looked really funny from where they were standing.

"HAHA! Come on Amy! Let's go!" Sonic said as he grabbed her hand and jetted up the stairs.

_Prower Castle: Level 8_

"Now I've got you! Shoui FLATURE!" The female commander shouted again while firing her signature move at Bokkun. The scared robot tried his best to dodge without setting off any of the steel presses located above. However it was very hard to do.

Shoui's attack went all over the place and started to tip off all the dangerous presses that basically haunted Bokkun's peace of mind with the unpleasant thought of being crushed, skewered with spikes, and poisoned to death.

He knew he couldn't beat her the way he is and he knew there was no way of escaping without Eggman getting mad at him for failing or chickening out.

"Guess I'll just fly all over the place until something happens!" Bokkun shouted in fear.

_Prower Castle: Level 3_

"Come on you guys! The acid pit isn't that far!" Rouge shouted from across the acid pit in question. She had carried Shimon across by Smokestack's order and the rest of them were just coming up on the start due to Big's lack of energy and stamina.

"You really need to lay off the... everything!" Smokestack said as he grabbed hold of the cat and used his powers to fly across the acid pit and land next to Rouge on the other side. Big's weight was so overwhelming that the commander basically dropped him on the ground when they stopped. Froggy had no problem getting across considering he was on Big's head the whole time.

Vector had to carry Charmy across while Espio used his amazing skills to hurry straight through with amazing precision. The bee was happily sucking on his thumb while he was carried across and enjoyed the scenery surrounding him. Sometimes Vector wished he was the kid's age again. It would sure be fun to act oblivious to what's going on without people yelling at you that you're too old to be that stupid.

Once they were all across they made their way to the next level. Hopefully they would be able to help with the situation before it turned out to be too late.

_Prower Castle: Level 7_

"I'm starting to hate this place." Eggman said as he dodged flame after jetting flame while trying to make it across the seemingly endlessly long dark pit.

"Just keep moving forward!" Knuckles shouted while holding on to the end of the seats. The fire continued to shoot up unwanted and extremely dangerous. Eggman had to dodge up, down, right, and left just to make sure his deviously handsome mustache (His words! I swear!) from getting the slightest of singes.

Eventually the eggmobile triumphed and successfully made it across the huge pit. Bocoe and Decoe's circuits nearly crashed from the intense feelings jetting from their nerves concerning this bizarre situation.

Knuckles let out a breath he didn't know he was holding but quickly remembered he was sitting in one of Eggman's transportation devices and jumped out of there seconds after realizing it.

"Thanks for the lift Eggface! Sorry I couldn't stick around and play Uno again but I know you'll just win like you did before. See ya!" Knuckles ran up stairs while chuckling to himself.

"I don't believe this!" Bocoe shouted in fuming anger in response to Knuckles' rudeness.

"I know! Can you believe him doctor!?" Decoe said as he turned to his creator.

"No … I don't … that fool still doesn't know that I cheated on that game! HAHAHAHA!" Eggman laughed, the reason for the two robots anger flying directly over his head.

In response the two robots just stared at Eggman for his amazing obliviousness then sighed. There was nothing they could really do about it.

_Prower Castle: Level 4_

Level 4 was a breeze.

It literally wasn't anything to be afraid of. When Rouge, Smokestack, the Chaotix and the others made it there all that was there was a huge glowing ball of light. When the others found that they were surprisingly unaffected by it Smokestack took it upon himself to approach the sphere.

"There's something written on it…" Smoke saw the words appear through the light that shown on the ball. "It says…

_You've done well to pass these challenges up to level four _

_But press your luck if you're to seek an impasse of something more_

_The light that shines within this ball will lay the peace to rest_

_Once tainted black it consumes all malice to those under the king's crest_

_To all those who read this thus be their final hour_

_Once condemned to darkness by will of malicious Miles Prower._"

Everyone except those who were in tune with the situation at hand didn't exactly know what it meant. However, to everyone there it seemed very scary. Even to Rouge, who being a bat, enjoyed the darkness very much. Hearing it in this context made her feelings for the dark somewhat questionable.

One thing was for sure, they'd all have to make sure that they survived from here on in if they wanted to make sure that such an awful thing didn't come to pass.

_Prower Castle: Level 8_

Shoui had just dodged another one of those annoying steel presses and was flying on her purple energy saucer around the huge spiked room trying to catch the half-robotic messenger boy.

"**SHOUI FLATURE!!" **She shouted again. Her patience was dimming at an extremely fast rate. She knew for a fact that she was the only G.U.N agent of her platoon left and that all this buzzing messenger boy was doing was wasting her time.

She would've left and traveled up to the next level ages ago but the room had a strict magic policy. One can only be granted access to the upper grounds if someone dies while in the room.

People traveling alone would never be able to get by this rule because that one person who had to die would be themselves and thus making it impossible to go on any further. That's why Shoui was so frustrated. She had figured this out when a disturbing and unwanted image was planted in her head about this level's rules.

The problem was that if Bokkun fled from this level she'd be at a loss of how to go on any further. She had to both keep Bokkun away from her side of the room so he couldn't escape and try to find a way to kill. In retrospect that shouldn't have been too hard but…

"THIS PESKY THING WON'T STOP MOVING!" Shoui yelled while angrily firing another dud attack.

Bokkun flew around, all over the place, and back again. He didn't have any strategy, plan of attack, or combat skills. He was basically winging it.

After dodging another steel press for what seemed like the millionth time he started to lose sight of his surroundings and his panic meter flew off the charts.

Eventually he slammed into the side of the wall and flew backward in a dizzy motion.

"I'm… not… gonna give up… long live the EGGMAN EMPIRE!" Bokkun shouted with amazing bravado shining in his voice.

This did nothing but annoy Shoui even more. She pulled back her fist and allowed it to glow a bright shady color before firing her 2nd level flature attack at Bokkun.

The little messenger kid didn't react quickly enough and almost saw the lights of his life blow out with a harsh puff of wind.

However something amazing an unexpected happened. Bokkun was saved by a fist. It was a swift spiked fist that came right at Shoui's colorful and deadly attack and broke it apart with its mighty swing.

The person responsible for this amazing punch landed on the spikes with his tough and sturdy shoes easily piercing the pointed edges. Bokkun looked up at his saver with sparkles in his eyes and Shoui just stared in confusion wondering how he was able to get by her so fast without neither of the two previous occupants noticing.

"Hey there… I like your outfit." The red echidna spoke with a hint of assured confidence in his voice.

"Who are you?" Shoui asked while once again angrily tugging on her glove.

"My name is Knuckles. You must be the last of the military trash that's been messing with me and my comrades." Knuckles said as he stood directly on the poison spikes. His shoes were a lot stronger then you're average pair. He could jump up and down on these spikes as much as he wanted and they'd probably never break through.

"Oh I see… you must be one of Sonic's friends!" Shoui shouted while the sweat that had accumulated on her face began to drip to a much larger degree.

Knuckles fumed and almost completely lost his composure when she gave him that unwanted label.

"I AM NOT SONIC'S FRIEND!" Knuckles yelled while shaking his fist in the air. His anime vein was throbbing to the max which almost made Shoui smile.

"Thanks so much for saving me mister!" Bokkun said with gleaming happiness.

"Yeah whatever. Just stay outta my way kid and you won't get hurt." Knuckles ordered to which Bokkun showed no hesitation in taking out.

"Ha! You look like a guy who won't move so much! I'll kill you nice and slow! SHOUI FLATURE!!" She sent out her huge purple beam at Knuckles to which the echidna jumped up to avoid.

The attack hit the spikes he was previously standing on which caused an unwanted re-action. The steel presses from above came down hard toward where Knuckles was. The echidna, obviously not having seen this coming, quickly managed to maneuver himself to the side to avoid being crushed and skewered at the same time.

He landed on the spikes with his shoes almost piercing them due to the added thrust that was put into Knuckles' jump. He had to be careful of that from now on. However, much thought wasn't allowed to be put into dodging anymore because another one of Shoui's deadly dragon shaped beams was headed straight for Knuckles.

The echidna tried dodging back but the attack had been lashed out too quickly and it hit directly. Knuckles flew back and slammed into a wall which in turn triggered another steel press. It came down to where he was standing but having seen it coming this time was able to jump out of the way.

When he landed his shoes still weren't damaged but Knuckles was starting to feel fatigue. He'd never stayed up and fought through so much treacherous terrain before. Usually his training was limited to his island and his island alone. It actually felt good to get out and save the world every once in a while.

"What are you smiling for echidna? You know I have the upper hand correct! Now for the sake of this marvelous play do me a favor and exit stage left!" Shoui fired her dragon on a string right at Knuckles once again. Having seen the attack he quickly jumped and sprinted his way behind Shoui. The attack hit the wall.

"HEY! Hold on!" Shoui tried her best to turn around before Knuckles could strike but it seemed too late as his fist connected with her once smooth cheek. Blood escaped from her mouth as she quickly regained her control and jumped backward. Once she landed safely on her floating energy platform she scoffed at Knuckles and tugged on her gloves once again.

"I usually don't hit girls but I make exceptions for the ones that piss me off! Now go wonder on back to the beauty shop missy." Knuckles grinned his confident grin which prompted Shoui to chuckle herself.

"Oh wait don't tell me! You think that just because you're stronger that my act is done eh? Not even close. If you wanna keep up with me you're gonna have to step it up to a whole new level of professionalism in the acting realm!" Shoui's hands lit up immediately after having said that and in no time at all two power dragons attached to energy strings from her hands emerged and flew straight out at Knuckles.

Bokkun was flying all over the place while trying to avoid them. For Knuckles it only took one swift jump. However, the pesky things just turned around and followed him. He had to twirl through the air and land as gracefully as he could in order to ensure that he stayed alive.

"Okay… I guess two is more fun then one… bring it!" Knuckles said while charged at her once more.

_Prower Castle: Level 7_

Sonic and Amy stared at the long dark and bottomless pit that seemed to taunt them with its massive intake on their lives. Neither of them had any idea as to how they were expected to get across this thing.

"Great! What do we do now Sonic?" Amy asked feeling pretty insecure about going any further.

Sonic didn't answer but instead just stared down at the shadowy pit with curiosity hinted in his tone of voice.

"I wonder…" The hedgehog then, without much warning, lifted Amy into his arms and faced the pit. "You ready for this Amy?" Sonic asked while making sure she was holding on tight.

"R-ready for what?" She asked obviously afraid of what the answer might be. Sonic pulled himself back then launched his body forward. This resulted in a huge mega jump from one side of the pit to hopefully the other.

Amy was screaming bloody murder as they flew higher and higher then slowly started to make a decent. Meanwhile Eggman was sitting in his Eggmobile on the same ledge Knuckles left them on pondering what his next course of action should be.

"Doctor? What are you doing?" Decoe asked for the 3rd time to which for the 3rd time he received no response.

Eventually though Eggman noticed his robots concerned faces then decided to spill the beans.

"The next level is a dose. I'm trying to figure out how we can get past it. I've heard that one can not pass that level unless another person in that same level as you dies first. After a person dies in there the passage way is said to open. Problem is that no one has ever made it this far before and usually those who have only show up alone. If they show up alone it would be there life they'd have to forfeit meaning that they could go no further and there time spent surviving all these challenges has been wasted. I must say this castle has one ingenious torture set up. I must copy it and steal the idea for myself one day when I get the chance." Eggman spoke as if he weren't finding the situation the least bit humorous this time around.

"Well… what do we do doctor?" Bocoe asked. Eggman turned to his two robots and sighed.

"Well… I never put a self destruct button in you two but if I opened up your chests and reconnected the wires together using an unstable electrical balance then the results would be the same." Eggman explained. The two robots freaked out and shook at the edge of Eggman vehicle while holding each other.

"Wait! Please don't do that doctor!" Decoe said in fear.

"Don't worry I won't… but there's got to be a way we can get by this obstacle without me having to sacrifice one of my own. What a waste that would be…"

Suddenly the three of them heard two loud shouts coming from above. Eggman, Bocoe, and Decoe looked up and saw two screaming hedgehog's flying there way.

"We're not gonna make it!" Amy yelled in tremendous fear as the velocity of Sonic's jump forced tear droplets to fly out of her eyes.

"You… might be right… but I'm still not gonna give up!" Sonic neared the ledge and was a quarter of a way there when Sonic realized there was no way he'd make it to the ledge unless he grabbed something. Luckily for him something was there sticking out for him to grab.

Sonic extended his hand as he made his decent and grabbed hold of Eggman's long mustache!

"ARRGH! HEDGEHOG!" Eggman shouted as Sonic's grip almost caused Eggman to fall out of his eggmobile and accompany Sonic and Amy at the bottom of the pit.

Sonic took advantage of the hold he had and began to climb up using Eggman's long mustache as a sturdy rope.

Eggman however couldn't stand the pain his rugged face hair was enduring having the weight of two hedgehogs on it.

"YOU GRUBBY LITTLE FIEND! LET GO OF MY MUSTACHE!" Eggman shouted while trying to force Sonic off. The hedgehog quickly maneuvered and swung over Eggman's head then landed safely on his feet.

"See. I told ya we'd make it." Sonic said while tossing away 3 little hairs that had escaped from Eggman's mustache.

"I knew you'd save us in the end!" Amy hugged Sonic while she was in his embrace.

Eggman was flaming mad and it showed as his personal anime vein looked as if it was ready to burst.

"You… ruptured my mustache!" Eggman shouted in a clearly pissed off tone.

"Relax egghead. It was just three hairs." Sonic said with a chuckle. Eggman sneered then fired out bullets at the hedgehog who easily dodged them then took his opportune moment to head on up the stairs.

"Guys! We're moving on up!" Eggman shouted angrily.

"We are? But I thought you said we'd need to figure out who to kill?" Decoe asked.

"I did! Sonic's gonna die up there! Today! HEDGEHOG!" Eggman said as he blasted up the steps.

_Prower Castle: Level 8_

Shoui sprung her two dragons out at Knuckles for what seemed like the longest possible time until she saw an opening she couldn't pass up.

"All right! Take this echidna!" She sent one of her flying energy dragons straight at Knuckles while he was fixated in the air. The echidna however thought quickly and shifted his body so the energy dragon would fly right by him.

He then immediately grabbed hold of the energy string that connected the dragon to Shoui's hand. With a confident smirk Knuckles tugged hard on the string and disconnected it from Shoui's hand.

The female commander was shocked by Knuckles' move but was determined not to let it hinder her. She used her other dragon to launch an attack straight at Knuckles. The echidna countered it by tossing Shoui's now disconnected dragon back at her and allowing both to crash. This unexpectedly caused them to explode on contact.

The recoil sent Knuckles crashing against the wall and tumbling toward the spikes below. The echidna quickly fixed it so his sneakers touched the spikes instead. However, this is when Knuckles began to notice something. Numerous falling spells with these spikes had caused his shoes to dent and rupture. Pretty soon the spikes will poke through and skewer his feet which in turn will poison him also.

"I've got to keep it together. If I can just reach her and end it without killing her then maybe… ARGH! How the hell is that even possible! We're in a room covered with poison spikes and there are steel presses hanging over out head every time we make one of ordinary move! Whoever designed this castle must've been a really annoying person!" Knuckles was beyond pissed off.

Shoui couldn't hold herself back anymore. She fell into a deep laughing fit. Knuckles' stupidity was just the funniest thing she's seen in a long time.

"You're very stupid. I can see how you'd be annoyed with this messed up place though. I however, know how to make it work for me." Shoui created another energy dragon and flung it at the part of the wall over Knuckles' head. The impact caused the expected aftershock which didn't at all take Knuckles by surprise.

"HA! You missed me warrior woman!" knuckles taunted feeling not the least bit skeptical.

"I guess you really haven't been paying that much attention to the stuff that happens when this place gets shaken up eh?"

Knuckles didn't know what she meant until he heard that dreadful sound of wind being split apart by the fierce drop of the steel press above his head.

Just by looking up Knuckles could tell that there was no way of dodging it. There was just one course of action. The echidna raised his hands and stopped the press as it slammed down on him. He immediately started to struggle as he was in-between this cold hard steel and poisonous spikes.

The spikes, by the way, were started to pierce their way through Knuckles' hard shoes. It wouldn't be long before something gave. He'd either be poisoned or crushed to death in a few minutes. Maybe even seconds…

"Now you've had it! You're about to be crushed, poisoned, and skewered in a few seconds! But why not add to the fun?" Shoui laughed as her hands glowed and she crossed them with amazing smug texture. No later had she done it that numerous purple energy dragons flew out of her hands in a miraculous puff of smoke.

"There's about ten in total! And guess what? They're all coming after you!" She shouted as her dragons all hoisted their heads and got ready.

Knuckles beads of sweat turned to bullets as the press pushed down on his flat palms even harder. The strain was causing his legs to weaken and almost sprain themselves. The spikes were now piercing there way through his shoes but hadn't reached his feet yet.

"Damnit! Why am I getting all this crap done to me! I fight that Igneous dud and get seriously injured! Then I barely escape from that weird Darkness guy. And finally here I am! Stuck in this freaky castle while in-between poisonous spikes, and this huge steel press, and an annoying bitch with silver hair and ten puffy magic dragons! Oh well, I guess I am the one who wanted all this adventure anyway. I might as well make the best of it!" Knuckles chuckled as the situation looked bleaker then it ever did before.

"Now GO!" Shoui shouted and sent her numerous dragons out at Knuckles at once.

"But despite all that… I'm… I'm not gonna die here! I'll win this fight! You here that you ugly bitch! Bring 'em on!" Knuckles raved as he dug his gloved hands into the cold steel with ease. The echidna struggled and struggled and the more he did the closer the spikes came to ripping through his shoe leather entirely!

_'It's a stupid move… but doing nothing would be even stupider!'_ He thought as he began to pull the steel press downward as hard as he could. This move confused Shoui to no end. Was he deliberately trying to crush himself?

Knuckles then made his huge egotistical grin as the dragons grew closer. Immediately afterward and in no time flat Knuckles completely and successfully ripped the steel press away from it's hinges. Carrying all that weight should've immediately crushed him but it didn't!

"WHAT! That's impossible! What are you a steroid with arms and legs?!"

"Who me? Naw… I just get this really impossible burst of strength when I'm either pissed off or in an impossible to win situation!" Knuckles then did a loud battle cry as he swung the massive piece of steel at the incoming dragons. The steel hit directly and caused them all to explode on contact.

Knuckles immediately dropped the steel press and its long hinge then jumped off the spikes before they could reach his feet.

The explosions that resulted from Knuckles' swing sent Shoui flying and crashing against the wall which of course alerted not only one or two of the steel presses but basically all of them. They all came down at a fast rate, too fast for Shoui to get up or do anything about them.

She tugged at her glove and was about to hit the press away while falling back but it was too late. The press successfully slammed into her body and brought both her and it down on the poison spikes. The huge slam that resulted from all the presses hitting the spikes was indeed loud and boisterous.

Knuckles having nothing to grab on when he jumped and felt himself free falling down to where the spikes were. Fortunately for him Bokkun still had a debt to pay and grabbed his arm before Knuckles suffered the same fate as Shoui.

"Thanks kid." Knuckles said truthfully grateful to which Bokkun responded to by chuckling. They both sighed and looked down at the scene below them. All the presses were slammed against the spikes. The press that Knuckles had ripped off was partly crushed beneath some of the other ones. As for the press Shoui was under… not much was seen but a small trail of blood leaking out from under it.

It made Bokkun shiver and Knuckles shake his head. Such an unfortunate death it was.

Before Bokkun could find a safe place to set Knuckles down the room lit up with a bright light and everything that cluttered the floor was suddenly gone. The presses, the spikes, and the body were no where to be seen.

"Um… what just happened?" Bokkun asked as he gently flew to the clear and empty floor of the previously overly booby-trapped room.

"I guess… we won?" Knuckles said in a more of an interrogative sentence then intended.

_Prower Castle: Level 7_

Was it physically possible for all of them to get past these levels with such amazing ease? Apparently it was. Every level Smokestack and the others made their way through was either completely ruined or deactivated in a magical sense.

Level 5 was filled with tiny volcanoes that didn't harm you unless you hunched on over them and let yourself get blasted with the incredible heat. Level 6 looked like a room full of holes. However those holes were filled to the brim with arrows and dead lava snakes. No arrows shot at them as they made their way through because of the occupation. Now they were at Level 7.

"Okay, so how's this going to work?" Smokestack asked as he turned to the group.

"It looks like an incredibly long way over but we can make the trip. The heaviest I can carry is two people!" Rouge said.

"Can you take me and Vector across in a flight formation?" Espio asked.

"… I can try. Your weight might be a problem but I'm sure we'll be able to stay a float if jaws over there can supply me with a back-up fire engine in case we descend." Rouge explained pointing to Vector. The crocodile nodded knowing exactly what she meant.

"Don't worry missy. I'll work it just like people work a hot air balloon." Vector boasted.

"Are you calling me a balloon? And did you say I was full of hot air too!" Rouge shouted back.

"What! No I just-"

"Relax! I was joking." Rouge chuckled as she took flight. Espio grabbed her boots and Vector grabbed Espio's legs.

"This too much weight for ya?" The crocodile asked.

"Less talking, more flying!" Rouge struggled as she flew as quickly as she could across.

Smokestack grabbed Shimon and put him under his arm then took Big by the hand. "Don't worry. I can use my smoke to blast myself across." Smoke said while taking off. Charmy stayed behind and sucked his thumb in mindless bliss before realizing that everyone had gone ahead. He then followed suit as well.

Smoke was making a clear straight spurt across but due to Rouge's struggling fit and Vector's misguided fire blasting a certain mishap happened.

You see they took off without realizing that the volcanoes from level 5 shot all the way up where they were. That caused Rouge to get taken by surprise when one shot up in front of her. She almost fell backward but decided to keep control by ducking backward and flying around. However, she didn't know that Smoke was headed in her new direction also. So when she turned to fly around- WHAM!

Smoke crashed into Rouge which caused all of them to spiral out of control and fly ahead at an unregistered passé. The volcanoes were shooting spurt after spurt at them as the tumbled through the air but none of them hit. Eventually they crash landed on the other side in a clumped together heap feeling relieved that they all survived.

When Charmy finally caught up he saw everyone toppled over each other and decided that it looked like fun... so he jumped on the pile of people too and laughed his butt off.

"Not exactly how I planned it to work out but hey whatever works…" Smokestack grumbled as they had finally reached the staircase leading to Level 8.

_Prower Castle: Level 8_

Sonic zoomed up the stairs with Amy in his arms followed by the pissed off egg-shaped scientist and his two scared lackeys.

"Die hedgehog! DIE!" Eggman shouted as they all traveled farther up the stairs. Eventually Sonic crashed through the door and slid across the ground feeling proud of himself.

"I made it! WHOO HOO!!" Sonic yelled as he set Amy down.

"Sonic?" Knuckles turned to hedgehog with a shocked expression on his face. He had his hand on the door that would take them up to Level 9 when the interruption happened.

"Oh hey Knuckles! Did ya have fun making your way up this crazy thing?" Sonic smirked.

Knuckles didn't answer as he was too preoccupied with trying to figure out what the noise coming from behind Sonic was.

"Um… have you seen Dr. Eggman anywhere by any chance?" Bokkun flew up to Sonic and asked a bit worried.

"Oh yeah! You might wanna step aside guys." Sonic said as he and Amy went to the sides of the room. Bokkun and Knuckles looked confused but they did as well. It didn't take long for Sonic's reason to move showed up.

Bullets flew rapidly out of the burst open door all of a sudden. Eventually the screaming Eggman flew into the room with his thumbs repeatedly jamming down on the fire button.

"ARGH! HEDGEHOG! NOBODY PULLS ON MY MUSTACHE AND LIVES!!" He shouted.

"Doctor! Please stop!' Decoe shouted.

"Pay attention to your front view!" Bocoe screamed a bit too late as the Egg mobile skidded against the ground and slammed into the doorway. It and the door toppled over and Eggman, Bocoe, and Decoe ended up hunched together in a smoking heap.

"Doctor!" Bokkun flew over to Eggman and tried helping him up.

"HAHAHA! Nice entrance Egg face!" Sonic laughed as he sped over to the deluded and confused doctor.

"Dr. Eggman-sama have you calmed down yet?" Bocoe asked feeling a bit tired all of a sudden.

"… I… I think I might've blacked out there for a second due to my rage. A man's facial hair is one of the proudest things he's got going for himself you know." Eggman said as he stood up and dusted himself off.

"I'm just glad you're okay. I was worried that you might not have survived all that crap downstairs." Bokkun said while smiling to himself.

"Well that's all fine and dandy but we really need to keep going so if you don't mind I'd like to get by you three idiots." Knuckles said as he advanced toward Eggman.

"Idiots? I'll have you know that I'm much smarter then you when it comes to incredibly dynamic master plans and what not!" Eggman said while crossing his arms.

"Yeah, although you wouldn't know it by looking." Amy remarked as she pointed out the toppled over Egg mobile.

"Whatever. Just get out of my way." Knuckles said as he walked past Eggman and made his way upstairs.

"My, my. What a charming friend you have." Eggman said in a sarcastic voice. He sat on the ground and hunched his arms over his bent legs while he did so. "This is just my luck. I finally hook up with someone who knows what they're doing and finally am initiated in a plan that's garrented superb greatness then something messed up like this happens!" He complained.

"How troublesome." Decoe said.

"What a drag." Bocoe remarked.

"Look at us. We're even ripping off of Shikamaru's catch phrases." Bokkun stated.

"How unoriginal." Decoe whined.

"We might as well give up all hope." Eggman said in a sobbing voice. Sonic then decided to make his way over.

"Meh, that's all right. You made it this far right Egghead. I'm sure your creativeness will shine through that scrambled brain of yours some day. HAHAHAHA!" Sonic couldn't help but laugh. He was about to walk by when Eggman suddenly shot up and slapped Sonic across the face.

The hedgehog fell to the ground and grabbed at his throbbing cheek.

"HA! Bitch slapped you hedgehog!" Eggman shouted triumphantly as him and his robots scrambled to get the egg mobile up and immediately flew up the stairs before Sonic could do anything about it.

"… I guess I walked right into that one." Sonic stopped rubbing and stood up as well.

"Are you okay?" Amy asked with a small smile on her face.

"I won't be okay until I've made sure Tails is safe." Sonic said as he picked Amy up and took off up the stairs.

A short while after Sonic left Smokestack and his group made there way up to Level 8 as well. They were once again surprised to see nothing there.

"Either whoever designed this castle is pretty uncreative or that Sonic sure knows how to bust things up." Rouge remarked as the rest of them traveled toward the next round of stairs.

"It's all right. I'd rather just breeze through this stuff then have to come face to face with annoying booby traps." Smokestack said as they made it to the stairs and started to climb.

Everyone was pretty much ready to face the emanate danger that was waiting for them upstairs.

_Prower Castle: Level 9 _

Darkness stood in front of the final double doors of the castle that lead to the ultimate power waiting for Tails up above. However, he and the fox were poised to just stand there and wait for the person who they both knew would enter through the door first arrived.

That's when the door creaked.

"As the prophecy states, the first to enter through that door will be the blue hedgehog. It's been predetermined by fate that he will be killed by your hand. I cannot allow myself to leave until I've seen him enter as insurance." Darkness stood completely focused by his fox prodigy.

On the outside Tails was his loyal and obedient servant but on the inside he was a scared little animal struggling to break free of this horrible monster's grasp.

The door creaked louder.

Darkness rubbed Tails' head then put his hands by his side. He was ready to head on up to the final level and it would be done when the person who needs to get here gets here.

The door creaked for an ever lasting time until it finally opened halfway. A foot stepped inside of the room. Darkness smiled under his hood.

"Welcome hedgehog. I trust you made it through the castle okay." Darkness chuckled as he was sure Sonic would want to know how he knew it would be him who entered first.

It's too bad that confident premonition had to take a turn for the worst as well. At least for Darkness it did.

When the figure stepped all the way in Darkness quickly realized that he wasn't blue nor was he a hedgehog. It was him again!

"Hey. Fancy seeing you here again." Knuckles said with a smirk.

"WHAT! Where's the hedgehog! He was supposed to enter first!" The deity was beyond angry. His anger didn't at all subside when Knuckles bent over in laughter.

"HAHAHAHA! I seriously wish I could see your horrid face! I bet it would be priceless!" Knuckles taunted.

"But how-?" Darkness began but the laughing echidna chuckled and stopped him.

"We heard you talking from behind the door! I can't believe you believe in all that predetermined crap! We'd thought it would be funny to send in me first so we could stomp on your oh so confident speech. HAHAHAHAHA!"

You wouldn't be able to see it but Darkness was twitching under his hood. It only got worse as Eggman, Bocoe, Decoe, and Bokkun entered as well.

"I usually hate the hedgehog's ideas but I just had to get in on this one!" Eggman said as he entered. There still was no sign of Sonic.

"AHAHAHAHA! We got you good!' Bokkun laughed.

"You've just been Punk'd!" Bocoe and Decoe shouted.

"It's even sweeter knowing that Ashton Kutcher wasn't here to annoy the hell out of me as we were pulling this off." Eggman and his three lackeys all laughed together.

Darkness found his hands shaking as his silent rage grew. Tails, void of any emotion, just stood there.

Amy entered next which on spited Darkness even more. "You're a complete loser you know that! Sonic will teach you a thing or two." She remarked as she moved out of the way along with everyone else.

That's when the hedgehog finally entered the 9th level.

"Sorry to keep you waiting. I've been having a slow day." Sonic winked and gave the deity his trademark thumbs up.

Darkness didn't know what to say but he certainly knew how to feel. He was extremely pissed. The way they took his prediction and screwed with it so easily as if his manipulation were a game pecked at his ego to no end.

"… I will… bask in the tremendous glory… when I'm informed of your dear friend's unmerciful mutilation of that slim little body of yours hedgehog." Darkness said as he creaked open the back door.

"Hey! Where are you going? We're trying to kill you and you just walk away. That's pretty rude of you ya know!"

"Hmph… Tails… kill them all. Bring me back each one of their hearts." Darkness said loud enough for them all to hear.

"Acknowledged." Tails said as he took a step forward. His body started to glow a dark purple that sent a shiver down everyone's spine except Sonic's. Eventually Tails' fur was black and that huge aurora appeared again. However, his eyes remained a glazed over light blue.

"Good boy Miles. See you at the balcony of beginnings." Darkness said as he made his way up the stairs. The fox didn't answer as he turned to his former best friend.

The way he stared at Sonic showed that there was no way he'd hold anything back from Sonic as he attacked. Sonic could tell he wouldn't hold back but no matter how much Tails punched, hit, or kicked Sonic knew there was one thing Tails would never do.

"You may be under that freaks control. And I know you have little say in the matter as to how you use your power or not. But I know one thing for sure. Despite how many times you come at me I know you won't kill me… and I won't kill you either. I won't even fight." Sonic said as he stood there with a straight face on.

No one was exactly sure about the last thing Sonic had said.

"Sonic. Are you crazy? Look at him! You'll have to fight sooner or later." Knuckles said walking up to the determined hedgehog.

"I'm not gonna fight him Knuckles. You guys go on ahead if you want but I'm staying here to make sure that Tails is set free." Sonic didn't take his eyes off of Tails for even a second while he spoke to Knuckles.

The echidna looked at Sonic's fierce emerald green eyes and immediately understood. There was something about it that he couldn't explain but it was enough for him to listen.

"Sonic! You can't actually expect us to leave can you?" Amy said with a confused and scared voice.

"We're leaving guys!" Knuckles said with a serious tone parallel to Sonic's.

"What! But why!?" Amy whined to which Knuckles responded by grabbing her arm and running toward the staircase that Darkness had previously gone up.

"Leave them be. This has nothing to do with either of us!" Knuckles and Amy left while Sonic stood facing Tails.

A long stare down commenced between the two of them before Sonic finally spoke up.

"… Come on buddy… let me help you." Sonic said as he held out his hand. The fox quickly and unexpected responded with a simple word.

"No."

Sonic stood there for a second and sighed. He put his hand by his side and continued to look at Tails. When it became evident that he wasn't going to attack Tails zoomed toward the hedgehog and punched him hard across his face which sent him flying into the wall. The resulting crash sent dust everywhere.

Sonic fell to the floor and lied there for a few seconds in an amazing amount of pain before he decided to get up.

"Pretty nice punch you've got there buddy. You've come a long way…" Sonic wheezed.

Eggman, Bocoe, Decoe, and Bokkun watched the fight with intensified interest. Their most annoying enemies were fighting it out right in front of them. It was exhilarating.

Sonic got back on his feet again only to be punched hard in the stomach by Tails once again. When Sonic reached for his stomach Tails flipped him over and through him against the wall. The hedgehog hit the ground once again.

"Don't you think we should try to leave while we can doctor?" Decoe asked feeling a bit on the uneasy side.

"No. This is too good of a thing to leave behind. Let's observe this a little while longer." Eggman had that glare in his eyes that told everyone that something was up with his brain.

Sonic continued to get pounded on and pounded on until the beat up hedgehog ended up on the ground covered in bleeding bruises. Even so the hedgehog continued to stand up. Tails still needed his help.

Eggman was enjoying witnessing this amazing splendor of pain the hedgehog was going through. His once trusted little brother was no painfully mutilating him. It did an evil genius' heart good.

What happened next however he could've done without.

"Hello Eggman." Came a voice approaching from the stairs.

"Oh… you're still alive." Eggman scoffed as he saw Smokestack and his group approach from behind. They all stopped behind Eggman and his robot lackeys feeling very tired and worn out. However, they all forgot about that when they witnessed the scene in front of them.

"Wait! What's that little fox doing! Does he know who he's fighting?" Rouge said while trying to get close.

"Hey hedgehog! Don't just stand there! Run! Move! Do something!" Vector shouted.

"Do you think he can hear us?" Espio asked a bit shaken as well. Charmy clung onto the chameleon as if for dear life.

"Hey! Stop!" Smoke tried to get close as well but Eggman blocked his way as did his robots.

"Get out of our way Eggy." Rouge said as she lifted her leg in a position that told Eggman she was ready to kick.

"Hmph! You can't interrupt this fight. Sonic choose to do this alone so I think it'd be best for all of you to just take a hike!" He shouted with the utmost seriousness in his voice.

Smokestack looked at the hedgehog who was currently being tossed across the room and sighed. "This is Darkness' doing. I need to get to him before I deal with anything else." Smoke easily slid past Eggman's pitiful defense and sprinted his way to the other side of the room barely avoiding a collision with Sonic.

The blue hedgehog in question slid across the floor with his power barely there anymore. His stamina and strength were low. He was bleeding a lot. His vision was less then perfect. But he still chose to stand up once again.

Tails suddenly stopped more then confused by Sonic's actions and stood there staring at the battered hedgehog.

"Fight. Master Darkness says fight. I will fight." Tails said in a bland and emotionless voice.

"Don't say that. Don't ever say that. Darkness isn't your master and I know you don't want him to be. You're your own master now act like it. Come on buddy! You can do it! Think hard! Push him out! Do you remember me?!" Sonic shouted feeling a bit different in the emotions department then usual.

Tails stood there for a few seconds like his body had frozen. On the outside basically nothing but his stance had changed. However, on the inside the real Tails was banging and ripping apart his prison as best he could. Despite all his best efforts he couldn't get free. Nothing was working!

'_SONIC! I'M SORRY! PLEASE! HELP!'_

Sonic had heard it. It was only for a small second but in that second he had heard the faint sound of his buddy calling out for him.

"Tails… c-can you hear me?" Sonic asked in a hopeful voice.

The still frozen fox didn't move until he eventually took a step forward. Then another. And then another once more. Eventually he began running. He ran even faster soon after and eventually reached Sonic.

The hedgehog was at first happy but then he realized why the fox was running. The little possessed kitsune was raising his fist and was about to deliver a powerful and fatal punch using his enormous kitsune powers.

Sonic couldn't and wouldn't allow himself to duck back. He was planning on taking it head on!

"That's it! I can't watch this anymore! Sonic! Move!" Espio shouted suddenly as he advanced toward the center of the room where Sonic was.

"Espio! Are you crazy! Get back here!" Vector yelled but it soon became evident that it was too late to turn back as Espio had all ready got in between Sonic and Tail's punch.

It connected with the chameleon and sent him crashing into Sonic. The force it caused was both unexpected and very painful to both. That blow had been enough for Sonic. Even though he wasn't hit directly he still felt the force through Espio's recoil backward. The three chaos emeralds flew out of the knee-deep area in Sonic's quills and had them sprawl across the floor.

"Ack! Chaos emeralds! Three of them!" Eggman shouted as he saw them slide across the ground.

"Hey! Didn't Strobe have that yellow one!?" Decoe pointed out.

"Why yes! And that red one belongs to Combustion!" Bocoe put his hands to his head as if in a panic.

"He's even got Metal Sonic's dark blue one!" Bokkun shouted. This little tidbit of information did not make Eggman happy. Not in the least.

"Metal… Metal Sonic was defeated?" Eggman looked at the scene in front of him. Vector and Charmy ran up to Espio and Sonic to see if they were okay while the still possessed Tails advanced on them.

"I… I must destroy you… Sonic… Sonic the Hedgehog." Tails' voice sounded held back. It sounded in pain. It was sad. And it showed as well. The fox never could learn how to hide his tears no matter what kind of façade he put on to show that he was indeed worthy of partnership to this planet's most respected hero.

That's all this was. A façade. It was just one huge messed up false body aptitude. It wasn't fair either. Why should he have to do this? Why'd he even get controlled by someone as twisted as Darkness anyway?

All these thoughts ran through his head as he finally made it to Sonic's position. The tears on his face were more than clear as he raised his hand to deliver the final blow.

"S-Sonic…" He mumbled while his hand just seemed to float there.

All the while this was happening Eggman and his three flunkies just stood there. Suddenly Eggman wasn't so sure if he wanted to see Tails kill Sonic. After discovering first hand what exactly had been happening to his faithful robots due to the proof they've been defeated lying on the black marble floor in front of them Eggman was having serious second thoughts about allowing them to continue this fight.

"Doctor… are you okay?" Bocoe asked.

"Shouldn't we get the chaos emeralds while they're destroying each other?" Bokkun asked confused by the doctor's gaze as well.

Eggman was too busy thinking about his creations to acknowledge what Bokkun had asked him. It just wasn't fair. What was happening here was what shouldn't happen.

'_My creations… Sonic destroyed them all and took my emeralds…I could let go of Combustion dying… same goes for the other guys… but Metal Sonic was defidently the last straw! Sonic SHOULD die! But not by that fox's hand!'_ Eggman thought before looking up with an angry face.

"HE WILL BE KILLED BY ME! GRAB THOSE EMERALDS NOW!!" Eggman shouted all of a sudden which startled everyone, even Tails. The robots quickly followed the doctor's orders noticing he was angry. They ran up and snagged the emeralds as quickly as they could while Eggman reached into his pockets and took out a small mechanical cube.

"Sorry Sonic! But you're done! Today!" Eggman tossed the square into the air and it shined a bright light that hovered above everyone. Eventually it expanded and turned into a giant silver robot with incredibly long arms and legs that looked like a deadly spiked humanoid in between. It landed behind all of the other surprised people with a loud thud!

There was no question that this was bad.

_Prower Castle: Level 10_

Knuckles and Amy had succeeded in making it to the final level, which happened to be located outside. They didn't have to look long to find Darkness. There he stood with the wind blowing by his cloak on the rail-less balcony.

"Yeah that's right. Do the world a favor and commit suicide will ya?" Knuckles chuckled. Darkness had heard the comment and turned around slowly to face him.

"It's rare that I meet up with a person who has pissed me off before a second time in heated battle." Darkness spoke with very little emotion in his voice.

"Yeah, well, I have that effect on people. A person like me just keeps coming back." Knuckles said as he cracked his knuckles.

"Yes well I assure you… it WON'T happen again!" Darkness lit his body up in black light as he prepared for battle.

_Prower Castle: Level 9_

Tails saw the robot advance and continued to struggle within himself.

"I… I have to help Sonic… Master Darkness… must help…kill … S-Sonic!" Tails started to sweat. Sonic was hearing Tails' comments and couldn't help but smile as the Choatix struggled to get him on his feet. Espio had recovered quickly enough due to him not being hurt as bad as the smiling hedgehog.

"Tails… I'm proud of you buddy… keep fighting it… I know… I know you can do it!" Sonic would've spoken more but Eggman's robot immediately grabbed the blue hero out of the Chaotix's hands.

"…S-Sonic!" Tails looked up and saw Sonic in the robot's terrifying clutches.

"Do you like it!? It's the first of my new E-series robots! E-001 Cytrakron! Now then! Squeeze the life out of that hedgehog and make him suffer!" Eggman shouted and the robot complied. It squeezed hard which prompted Sonic to scream out in agony and pain.

"S-SOOOONIIIC!" Tails yelled as his brain began to hurt. The control just wouldn't leave. _'Wh-what do I do! Sonic…' _

_That was a long awaited chapter wasn't it? Sorry about that. I've had some business to take care of. Please remember to review. I'll see you next time._


	40. Chapter 40

I've been gone for so long it's not even funny

**I've been gone for so long it's not even funny. Sorry about the long wait but here's the next chapter.**

**Kitsune-Superfox:** Yes. I made the poem up myself. Hope you enjoy this.

**Kitsume-awesomeness:** Amy killing him certainly would be humorous but I'll stick with the original plan. Hehehe.

**Kilatails:** OKAY OKAY OKAY OKAY! I'm here now!

**Silver Sheilds:** I like the fact that the gang's all here as well.

**Lordoftheluis4:** This time coming was certainly a much longer wait.

**Shala the Hedgehog:** Expect the unexpected.

**Raziel777:** I couldn't wait either but the homework kept piling up…

**Konya X3:** Thanks for the support!

Well I guess that's everybody. The story is almost done but not quite yet! Here you all are!

**Chapter 39: Darkness' Beginning**

Knuckles and Amy stood there in front of Darkness with their heads held high and their ambitions strong. It was clear to both of them that they could die at anytime just from letting their guard down at least once.

"I feel your pent up rage… and fear… do you honestly believe that you'd be able to face me and win with any noticeable shred of fear exposed?" Darkness asked.

Amy looked bewildered.

"Don't answer him Amy. He's just trying to play mind games!" Knuckles said.

"Well of course I am… that's what I do! It's what I live for, to trick and manipulate poor unfortunate beings with little inner individuality. Like the pink one for example."

"What about me?" Amy asked almost offended.

"Never mind, it's not important." Darkness chuckled a bit.

Amy obviously didn't want to here his mouth anymore and raised her hammer.

"What are we waiting for?! Let's go Knuckles!" She shouted then charged right at Darkness. Knuckles looked hesitant but felt as if there was no choice now that Amy had done so.

He ran after him as well and took his opportune chance to raise his fist and hope for a devastating blow to follow.

Sadly, that wasn't the case as Darkness simply held out his hands and grabbed the two as they came up on him with their choice weapons.

"A mallet and a spiked fist! Nice weaponry. However, it pales in comparison to my own power!" Darkness clutched them hard and sent bolts of his black electricity through their bodies. Amy and Knuckles immediately began screaming as the lightning pierced their skin and literally boiled their blood in separate places.

"T-Too strong… ARRRRGH!" Knuckles shouted as he and Amy stood hopelessly in the man's grasp.

"It appears an example is about to be set! I wonder how long it will take before you both end up cuddled heaps of ash!" Darkness allowed his power to go all out and soon had both of them screaming bloody murder.

The screaming went on but didn't go unnoticed as a smoked fist was sent straight towards Darkness' skull during the outburst of power.

The deity saw the fist coming and hurridly allowed himself to jump. Even so, a second one was sent straight after him not a second later had he done so. This one ended up connecting and prompted him to let go of Amy and Knuckles.

The two hit the roof hard and struggled to regain the feeling in their arms, legs, and basically their entire bodies. The man who had delivered the two punches wasted no time in approaching them as Darkness made his unharmed decent.

"You two shouldn't be so reckless around a guy like him. You were lucky I decided to follow." Smokestack said as he helped the two sit up.

"More nuisances have come to die I see. I guess now it won't be all bad." Darkness laughed as he let his power explode.

Smokestack, Amy, and Knuckles were almost completely blown back by it. This whole situation was just so weird and desperate. What was it going to take to kill this guy!?

"You all look puzzled. Allow me to end your confusion. You're the idiots that decided to oppose me… and you're also the ones that will perish TODAY!"

_Prower Castle: Level 9_

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!" Sonic shouted in overwhelming pain as the robot's grip simply refused to let up. The hedgehog had been battered, bruised, and basically tossed around this room too hard for him to retaliate. Any regular person would be dead.

As for Sonic, he simply had to suffer.

Rouge, Shimon, Big, Froggy, and the Chaotix were forced to watch this troublesome spectacle unfold in front of their eyes.

Sonic was literally being crushed and the only one with enough power to save him… wanted him dead!

"Don't let a single shred of his bones evade being turned to dust. I want to see a literally broken hedgehog Cytrokron!" Eggman shouted and cheered for the first of his E-series.

Sonic was suffering, this was true, but he wasn't the only one.

Tails had been resonating within the confines of his mind for a while now. Maybe it was too long! He was actually worried that he had been thinking too much! What if Sonic had died!

_'I wouldn't be able to live with myself… but… Master Darkness… he said… Sonic said… that Darkness isn't… he isn't…'_ Tails clutched his head and fell to his knees as Sonic's cries for help echoed and mixed in with his own mental shout out for assistance.

It hurt his brain and began to dysfunction his train of thought. It was happening again. His head was filling up with voices! Which ones were the right ones to listen too?!

_'Master Darkness! Sonic said… he isn't my master! But… he's still… I can't! I can't take it!!'_

Tails let his head hit the floor as Sonic's screams only grew louder and louder as did the cynical Dr. Eggman's laughter.

'_All the voices… I can't listen… to any of them… at least not the ones in my head… there's so many… but… there's only one right one in my heart… is the answer there?' _Tails opened his eyes and allowed his vision to focus. In his range of sight was a metal floor and beads of sweat where his frustration had prompted them to land.

He looked up and saw his hero, best friend, and older brother being crushed by an Eggman robot!

"S-Sonic… you're right… Darkness isn't my master… I'm my own master… and this master's heart is telling him to save his older brother!" Tails shouted out in a fury of spontaneous courage and belief.

Eggman noticed it, Rouge, noticed it, the Chaotix noticed it, even Sonic noticed it.

"Tails… good job buddy…" Sonic said in a painful whisper.

"Err! Cytrokron, stomp on the fox!" Eggman commanded obviously not taking any chances from what he's seen. However, it was too late. Tails had his kitsune power and this time his light side was in control!

The fox saw the robot's foot coming and quickly evaded the huge collision. He zipped up the side of its leg and didn't hesitate to burst through its right arm. Not only did it subtract one of his limbs but it set Sonic free as well.

The arm hit the ground with a loud slam that alerted the Chaotix that it was time to move. They quickly made their way to the severed limb and tried to pry open the fist so that Sonic could escape.

"Argh! Darnit! Cytrokron, attack again! Do it as wildly as necessary!" Eggman shouted again in mild frustration. The robot headed to his whim and sent out a fury of punches and kicks throughout the room, all of which missed the fox in question as his power exceeded that of the robot's.

"I'm gonna get you Eggman!" Tails chuckled as he took his open opportunity to slice through the robot's left leg.

The robot fell forward from the impact and slammed against the ground on its knee and slammed the rest of its huge body against the steel wall.

"No! Stop it you idiot fox! My precious machine!!" Eggman yelled as Tails continued to bombard the thing with many unforgiving impacts and slams.

Rouge and the others quickly made it over to the other side hoping to vi-pass the explosion that was sure to come. Bocoe, Decoe, and Bokkun had to forcefully drag Eggman away due to his anger.

"This is what happens when I follow my own way! I'm taking this thing down Eggman!" Tails yelled happily as he continued to use his kitsune powers for a thorough dismantling of the robot. Eventually it had so many fatal holes in it that it had no other option but self-destruction, which is what it did.

The explosion would've easily engulfed the entire room but Tails being the child genius that he was managed to put up a decent sized barrier in order to make sure that the blast didn't hit any of the people on the outside. Sadly, this included Eggman.

When the smoke and ash finally cleared there was very little trace of the robot's existence left. Eggman slowly approached the gapping hole that was left behind hoping with all his might that it wasn't true. It was however and when the force field dissipated it became clear to Eggman that this plan was a flop.

Tails emerged with his body all a glow and his smile bright. He looked passed the stunned Dr. Eggman and saw his older bro lying there on the ground with the biggest smile the fox had seen to date.

"Wow… I'm so proud of you Tails…" Sonic said in a small raspy voice.

Tails winked and put his thumb up at Sonic, which prompted Sonic to attempt the same thing. It worked but it hurt doing so. Still his little brother was defidently worth it especially after the feat he just pulled.

Tails approached his older brother and bent down to face him with his pure kitsune light illuminating the room. He put his hands on the hedgehog's chest and slowly began healing him to the best of his power's ability.

'_I did it… I filled up this Star ball energy with pure light… and I did so by realizing that even though my brain is huge and smart … it's really my heart that I should've listened to all this time… now all the loud voices have stopped coming into my head… I can finally help Sonic the way I want to now!'_ The fox thought as Sonic's injuries healed.

Rouge, Big, Shimon, and the Chaotix all approached them and couldn't help but feel the warmth of Tails' light embrace them. It felt good. It had taken a long while but the fox had finally figured out how to transfer his dark energy into that of light.

Sensing the awkward moment intake Dr. Eggman and his three flunkies all started to tiptoe up the steps toward the tenth level hopefully without being seen for fear of a tremendous and merciless beating.

Eventually Sonic made a full all around recovery and the first thing he did when he was healed was give Tails the biggest bear hug he could muster to the fox boy.

"I'm sorry if I'm crushing ya kid! I'm too proud of you to ease up though." Sonic said.

"It's okay… since I'm in my light kitsune form it doesn't even hurt." Tails stammered but chuckled.

Rouge looked on for a few more seconds before realizing that Eggman and the three Chaos Emeralds were gone.

"Oh no my emeralds! That eggface must've stolen them! How dare he steal from a thief!" Rouge was angry.

"But they weren't even yours to begin with." Big said with his eyebrow raised.

"Erm well you know what I mean… let's get him! If we nab his three emeralds we'll have four! And since that echidna has the other three it should be easy pickings!" Rouge said as she flew on up the stairs with Big following.

Sonic finally let Tails out of his brotherly embrace and turned to the Chaotix who were watching and smiling at them.

"Oh please don't mind us." Vector said.

"Yes, we don't want to impose." Espio said.

Charmy just sucked his thumb and chuckled.

"No, you're fine. We need to get to Darkness and end this anyway!" Sonic said as he stood up. Tails nodded and stood up straight as well. His body glowed with bright pure light. Light that shown for what Tails really was.

A kind hearted soul with the coolest big brother ever!

If this were an actual anime this would be where the ominous hero music started to play. The five of them faced the last staircase leading them to the long awaited final battle.

"Well then, enough of this suspenseful standing around! We've got some 10,000 year old butt to kick!" Sonic shouted as the group finally and after all hardships traveled up the last flight of stairs.

'_Darkness… I'm coming for you this time… I'll prove to you that you're wrong and my body will serve as proof enough… no matter_ _how far down the wrong path you may go… there's ALWAYS a chance to turn back!'_ Tails thought as they made their way on up.

_Prower Castle: Level 10_

Smokestack, Knuckles, and Amy were exhausted. They were limp, they were tired, they were bleeding, and they wanted this annoying robed deity to just fall over dead all ready. If only they could've been that lucky.

"Such pitiful existences thought that they could best me in a battle of wits is that true? Hahaha! Such folly! I would never allow myself to hinder to you pestilence! Scum! Remove yourselves from my sight at once!" Darkness boasted charging his hand up for what obviously looked like a final attack.

The three tuckered out warriors did not say anything or move as his power fluctuated and sent cursed vibes toward them. Maybe they were about to die but at least they died doing something worth dieing for.

With that Darkness flung his attack out at the three. It was going to land a perfect shot! He knew that it would!

However, such was not the case as at the last minute the red echidna used the gimmick he used to best Darkness last time once again.

In a flash he held up one of his emeralds and let the attack hit the gem with the full blunt of its power. The strain it put on the echidna's battered body was unbearable to say the least but it had the same affect as last time. A huge light shown out that struck Darkness and his ascending figure.

"ARRRGH! That's light!! You worthless little… I'll make sure to kill you swiftly for this! Normally people who oppose me and create a strategy that's able to hinder me in the slightest I admire but in this case it's simply annoying!" Darkness shouted.

"And why's that cloak face. Is it because you know that deep down you're not some all powerful being who is immortal in every way shape and form. Sure you put on a good act but you said yourself that this was an ambition to gain full control over the kitsune's power was it not. Wasn't it you who said that you needed it to be immortal?" Knuckles asked.

Darkness stepped back as the light shown and he cursed Knuckles under his breath.

"Why so silent? What's the exact point of this new order of yours eh? It'll become corrupted just like all the others. I could care less who their leader is. If it's someone like you then it's basically doomed for failure!" Knuckles chuckled.

"I agree." Came a voice that traveled towards the scene with a stature of pure seriousness. The four turned to see Eggman and his flunkies all there at the scene of the 'Fate Rising'.

"Hello Eggman…" Darkness said bitterly.

"Why'd you have Metal Sonic use my teleporter to place all those seeds on those other planets? You're not planning on colonizing anything are you?" Eggman hummed a bit angered at his recent failures. Seeing Darkness standing right in front of him certainly didn't help any.

"You and your new world order crap!" Bokkun shouted.

"Yes, we may want to create the Eggman Empire-!" Bocoe began

"But we want to have control over the order of life not destroy it!" Decoe shouted.

"There'd be no point in ruling over a empire of subjects that were perfect. What would be the point of establishing the monarchy? If they're all perfect then there's nothing there that would allow you to consider yourself on a higher level then the rest of them because they're all the same! Ruling over such a world would be boring and serve zero purpose in the flow of life." Eggman said.

Rouge and Big came up soon after that.

"What is this a tea party!? Where's my emerald Eggy!?" Rouge sounded impatient but Eggman simply ignored her and continued.

"I predict… that in a world where everyone was perfect… time would simply seem like it was standing still… there'd be no point to living. There'd be absolutely no point! No one would be able to make new discoveries because everyone all ready made them all ready! They all know the same things, they all speak the same way, and they all eat the same things! Reliving every single day over and over again with it never ending and never going anywhere, is that you're perfect order Darkness!?" Eggman shouted.

Rouge quieted down and turned to the deity in front of her. Big and Froggy were also silent as well.

"… You think you're so smart don't you… but I've anticipated every possible thing that could happen! I know where this universe's place is and it certainly won't continue on like this. So long as poor deluded people like Miles Prower exist the world will forever plunge itself deeper and deeper into the black abyss. Tell me Eggman, which is better? Falling into the abyss or repeating the same thing over and over again?"

Eggman's sweat dropped and he hesitated before answering. However, he never got the chance to for a certain blue hedgehog had beaten him to the punch.

"… Neither is better… because they're both essentially the same thing…" He said.

Everyone stayed silent.

"We could all die tomorrow without warning and end up being known as the galaxy's scum hole… but in reality every being is imperfect. Our imperfections make us perfect you freak. Too me if we all truly did die tomorrow then we should have no regrets but then again people have goals and they strive to achieve them in the best way they can. That's what I admire about this imperfect world." Sonic said.

"Why's that!? At least in my world order… the organisms and inhabitants would actually stand a chance at surviving!" Darkness shouted.

"It's not about surviving! **IT'S ABOUT LIVING!!"**

Silence…

Everyone was stunned… even Eggman…

"… There's a HUGE difference between the two… and if you can't see it then you truly are a hopeless waste of a life form… you're the scum who needs to disappear… not us..." The hedgehog concluded.

Darkness looked stiff… he had once again ran out of words to say. This time wasn't like the other times it's happened today though. Usually he would've rebuttled with something but this hedgehog… DAMNIT!! HE COULDN'T THINK OF ANYTHING!!

"Just because we have feelings and emotions doesn't make us inferior. I've noticed plenty of times that you have the same thing. So don't come crying to us about how inferior we are." Sonic started up again.

Darkness didn't say anything.

"And if you want proof that with the right amount of heart and friends you can overcome the power of a douchebag like you then allow me to introduce to you… Tails… the Kitsune… of light!" Sonic proudly stepped out of the way and allowed his little brother to make his entrance with the Chaotix.

What Darkness saw almost made him vomit and stab himself in the face continuously.

It was Tails all right but the dark aura and fur that surrounded him whenever he became a kitsune was gone. In its place was a white aura and light colored fur. The exact opposite of what Darkness had been prompting Tails to become.

"A Kitsune… of Light!" He muttered.

"Hi there… that's me!" Tails grinned from cheek to cheek as did Sonic and the Chaotix members standing behind them.

It was a spectacle.

The fox he had tried so hard to manipulate… ended up becoming the exact opposite of what he was striving for… such a realization was indeed maddening. But this…they were grinning about it! Mocking him for it nonetheless! He would most certainly make them all suffer dearly for this.

Because despite all that's happened… Darkness' plan… had still worked!

The deity chuckled slightly. It was small at first but then it grew into a capsizing echo of maniacal laughter that sent shivers down everyone's spine, even Tails.

"Didn't you fools hear me before? I said that I anticipated everything! Including this!" Darkness shouted as his body began to glow.

The wind shifted and the clouds suddenly began to rotate slowly. It was creepy how suddenly all of this was happening, as no sign of anything would've been predicted before hand.

The Chaos Emeralds that were now all there began to glow. It was a creepy and irritable sight to see them all suddenly float.

"What is this Darkness!? This ultimate power you kept referring to has really started to bother me! Tell me now! We all deserve to know!" Eggman shouted as the wind picked up.

Darkness simply chuckled.

"Congratulations to you all for making it this far. You'll all be referred to in my new world order scriptures. As for now though it's time to begin the 'Fate Rising ritual!'" Darkness said as he slowly began to rise.

The emeralds all floated and circled through the air at an increasingly fast speed.

"Don't worry Sonic! What ever he's planning I'll stop it!" Tails said in a confident voice as he charged at the cloaked schemer. Sonic realized how uneasy the scenery and Darkness' reaction to all that was taking place was and immediately realized how big of a mistake Tails was making.

"Tails! Stop! Don't get any closer to him!" Sonic shouted as he began running after him.

Once again it was too late to turn back.

Darkness easily extended his powers and shot a piercing blast at the approaching kitsune, Tails was easily caught off guard and ended up being struck in the chest directly. The power emanating from Darkness' hand used its strong pull to force the fox over to him and his intimidating appearance.

The emeralds looked as though they had simply turned into a rotating streak of light from spinning so fast in the air. Lighting struck, thunder cackled, and soon Coordinates 000's realm reopened to reveal the atmosphere of the real world once again. It was raining like it was forecasted a while ago and the castle they were in seemed to fluctuate along with that.

Tails struggled and struggled to break free but all that was happening was that his light was coinciding with Darkness' powers of the black night. He couldn't do much of anything.

"Wh-what are you gonna do now huh? You're manipulation didn't work… your mind control didn't work… and now I'm a kitsune of light just like I said I would be when we met in my dream! You… stink at plans you big meanie!" The fox struggled and shouted.

"Hmph. I could careless what the personal perception of a 4-year-old is. I offered you so much and yet you scornfully shoved it aside for these imperfect beings. No matter. That's what I get for trying to be generous and attempting to actually save one of these hopeless creatures. I guess that's why the word hopeless is a reflection of my description of people like you." Darkness sighed and began to allow his powers to completely overtake the fox.

"Well what are you planning on doing now! Your power's don't work on me anymore!" Tails shouted.

"I don't care about you anymore. You were simply an experiment, a guinea pig that I used to store up the dark kitsune power so I could steal it for myself. I waited for the time when your anger and hatred would soon cause the dark powers you possessed to overflow and grant me access to take it over while it was weak and unstable. However, I also took into the unlikely possibility that you could've become a kitsune of light!" Darkness explained.

"Wh-what!? Y-You mean you had a plan for this too!?" Tails sounded scared and surprised. He was certain that Darkness was so confident in his plan to turn him evil that he wouldn't have considered a back up plan for the coming of the Kitsune of light.

"Yes… truly. With your light powers at a full opening your dark powers are now at rest!"

Tails' eyes bugged out. He knew what that meant. Since his dark powers were currently in-active that meant that they were accessible for Darkness to take!

"F-Forget it! You're not taking my dark powers! I-I won't let someone like you-!"

"You're not in any position to tell me what I'll be doing! I've waited over 10, 000 years for this and I'm not stopping now because the 4-year-old has a misguided sense of justice!" Darkness increased his intake of dark lightning on Tails' body, which in avertedly caused the fox to scream in coursing pain.

Sonic ran straight up to the deity, the anger on his face as clear as day. He didn't like where any of this was going and was determined to stop this before it began.

However, when the hedgehog jumped up to swipe him across his cloaked face, Darkness simply grabbed his face with his black-gloved hand and flung him carelessly to the ground.

"Y-You… bastard! Let my little brother go!" Sonic shouted getting up almost immediately.

"S-Sonic… s-s-sorry…" Tails whispered as the black lightning pierced through his heart and began extracting the dark power.

"Don't apologize! This isn't your fault!" Sonic shouted.

Shimon looked on from behind Big and became transfixed by the scene that was taking place in front of him. He remembered hearing about the Kitsune legend from his destroyed village some time ago but never really thought about it until today…

Shimon had heard the story about a greedy member of the Prower kingdom who hated the current king and devised a scam that set his own subjects against him. The plan was working perfectly until an accident dealing with the powers of their time and the king caused the untimely creation of the first Kitsune. And afterwards the betrayer became its unloyal servant and messenger…

"You're Zerokichi!" Shimon shouted all of a sudden.

The silence had returned once again. This time even Darkness was stumped.

However, he knew exactly what the kid meant at the same time. Shimon had figured it out now. That legend and what was happening here all fit together. It was undeniable proof that this Darkness' guy was infact the one who betrayed King Prower over 10,000 years ago.

"Zero-ka-who?" Rouge asked feeling a bit uneasy.

"Aw, now it all makes sense… so you're him aren't you… which means there's no point in keeping that hood of yours over your head any longer." Eggman spoke up not even caring that his flunkies were immensely confused.

Sonic looked back at Eggman and turned to face Darkness with the same look of anxious questioning on his face. Tails suffered from it the most however. He didn't understand. Prower was his last name. There was a kingdom named after him 10,000 years ago? This castle they were standing on right now must be…

Darkness' face was that of disgust and anger. No one could see it however due to his hood but that all changed in an instant. The cloaked schemer realized that Eggman was right. There was no point for the hood anymore…

He forcefully grabbed the hood that hid his face and flung it back revealing to everyone there his purple face.

Knuckles, having all ready seen it, couldn't help but flinch at the sight of it again. He however was the only one there whose eyes didn't bug out tremendously when they saw what he really looked like.

Tails, especially couldn't believe it… it was too… there was a word but he couldn't find the right one. He was in a confusing spiral of mixed emotions right now.

"Y-You… look… just like me… you're a fox too!?"

Darkness scoffed and continued to draw his power from Tails.

"I bare some resemblance to you indeed but it's mostly due to the fact that we're the same species! Don't ever compare me to a hopeless whelp like you again fore what will follow will be a very painful experience." Darkness explained.

"Darkness is a fox!? I can't believe this!" Sonic shouted.

"Believe it hedgehog. Not only that but the uninspiring name of Darkness seems to be false as well. So you were really Zerokichi eh? Can't say I'm all that surprised." Eggman said.

"Would someone mind explaining this to us?" Espio spoke up feeling that he and the others were a little too out of the loop.

"He's Zerokichi. Regarded as one of the single handedly most vile people of all time according to the ancient text I had Metal dig up on the subject." Eggman spoke calmly and without hesitation.

Tails turned to face Zerokichi in the face and just stared at him while the doctor continued.

"That kingdom… that castle… Prower castle. I had heard it was one of the most prestigious kingdoms of its time. The wide range of foxes there were at an all time high! Their king was regarded as one of the greatest soverns to ever take command of these people. It truly was a happy time from what I heard. But then there was always that one bad seed… isn't that right Zerokichi?" Eggman asked.

Darkness just glared at him as he noticed the doctor began to passé around the top of the roof.

"For some reason or another you hated the king despite all that he did for the kingdom and its people. You were one of his loyal assistants and a very competent one at that. Always did your work when it was assigned and still found yourself receiving nothing for it but a room and a small regard. If I recall a depute over the control of that particular land had been going on at the time… with the Diox clan."

Smoke's ear perked up.

"The king didn't want to engage in war because he saw it as a pointless errand for those who wish to take the lives of the people. You obviously didn't see it this way as this statement of his was what prompted you to completely lose it! What happened next was astonishing to read. Apparently some pattern dealing with the coordinates was set in motion some time ago and the power source of their castle followed it the letter. You apparently began abusing this power source and attacked the Diox clan numerous times with it then blamed the king. Correct?"

"You should probably shut up now. Your history lesson bores me! The king was a fool who couldn't grasp the fact that this world was full of degenerate scum who go off fighting and claming their rise to power for no reason. I hated the king for not only minimizing the importance of my existence but also for not destroying the Diox Clan himself before I had to start blaming him. Fighting is pointless, I agree, but only against those who also see fighting in pointless wars as unnecessary! The ones who insist on going to war over something as petty as land deserve to be eradicated as to not poison the life styles who only fought in wars for greater good." Zerokichi explained.

"What are you saying!?" Smokestack shouted. "My clan was full of peace bringers! They never went into war with anyone that didn't try and appose the well-being of the planet!" Smokestack shouted clearly angered.

"It's a façade." Was Eggman's reply.

"What!?" Smoke turned to him still very angered.

"Their overall intention was to do good but not even they were perfect Smokestack. They made one mistake that dealt with a huge war that could've escalated across the entire planet you know? I've been reading about it. No matter how one tries to obtain world peace it's something that is unattainable. What ever your clan did to tick off the Prower kingdom it probably wasn't intentional though… another misunderstanding that Zerokichi miscalculated again perhaps?" Dr. Eggman smirked.

"Believe what you will but that king was a fool. He got everything he had coming! It's true I did manipulate the castle's power source and blame it on him. For a while things went smoothly until…" Zerokichi began then stopped.

"Until the king found out about your betrayal. Then it just ran straight into the ground. He confronted you when you were about ready to manipulate the castle's power source again and tried to stop you but an accident happened that caused the power to mutate the king into what was known as the first Kitsune. Because of your connection to the power it had you were forced by its will to be its servant throughout time. In other words… a curse was placed on the both of you." Eggman chuckled.

"It was after that when the transformed king destroyed my clan correct?" Smoke asked and Eggman nodded.

"Yes… the pattern of the arrivals of kistune's throughout time continued and you constantly waited and waited for the power to build and become unstable enough for you to take it for yourself and be rid of the curse. That's the jist of it isn't it?" Eggman finished.

"You know a lot but you're a very stupid person all the same. Calling me and my ambition out in front of everyone defidently wasn't a good idea!" Zerokichi shouted, as he didn't let Tails go.

"Yeah, and what're you gonna do about it. Here I am an old man and I managed to survive all of your crap. Why should today be any different?" Eggman chuckled.

Darkness was nearly finished sucking the power out of Tails.

"Heh, because this time I have finally been granted the power that I require. It's too late for boasting. Especially when it originates from the mouths of inconsistencies like you." Zerokichi chuckled to himself and then finally let his power flow!

Tails screamed as the black lightning jetted across the area and dangerously struck by everyone. Zerokichi and Tails rose into the air and allowed the Chaos Emeralds to encircle around them.

"This is the beginning! Finally! After waiting over 10,000 agonizing years, I can reawaken the premise of a perfect world! Your power is finally mine!" Zerokichi actually felt his heart beating a mile a minute. After waiting for so long why wouldn't his heart be racing?

"He's got the emeralds! Damn it! Give them to me!" Rouge shouted as she took off after him.

"Don't go near him you greedy idiot!" Knuckles shouted.

Rouge didn't listen as she flew toward him. The black piercing lighting that basically was his body now easily struck her before she could reach him. The bat plummeted toward the roof and Sonic easily caught her.

"You really are crazy." Sonic said.

"I suppose… it was worth a shot…" Rouge mumbled.

"Hmph. Even if it was a shot in the dark." Sonic said as he stood her up and looked up at Tails. The fox was still fighting. Even after all this hopelessness he kept pushing onward. It was such an admirable thing. It made Sonic proud.

"I-I became the Kitsune of Light… and if you take my powers that would make you-" Tails began.

"The exact opposite… I know…" Zerokichi's eyes suddenly became blood red and his fangs grew. "A Kitsune of dark!"

The wind and rain picked up and began to rotate as if it were a tornado.

"What's going on…? I've never seen this before…" Sonic said.

"It's a new trick I learned when I was observing the powers of the emeralds!" Darkness shouted as he forcefully grabbed Tails' chest and harshly pulled the fox away from his lightning powers, which prompted his heart to be stricken.

"ARRRRGH!" Tails shouted as he felt an unbearable bloody pain in his chest.

"Tails!" Sonic shouted as he noticed small droplets of blood make their way to the roof below.

"I call it… the Chaos Control!" Darkness raised his hand and shot all seven emeralds into the huge vortex that he had created. Not a second later had a huge bright light flashed across the entire castle, blinding everyone there.

"Doctor! What's he doing!?" Decoe shouted, as he grew even more frightened by the minute.

"I'm not sure… ARGH! It's bright!" Eggman said in response.

"CHAOS CONTROL!!" Zerokichi shouted with a dark voice that echoed throughout the night sky.

Then not but one second later… there was silence and an air of vacancy.

_**Meanwhile over Station Square**_

The city of Station Square, usually an active city that never sleeps was in deep turmoil ever since the events that took place occurred. Not only had a 4-year-old fox killed so many people but their hero, Sonic the Hedgehog, left with him. It was obvious to them all that he cared for the fox, which confused them to no end.

Some said that he was simply tailing the fox and looking for a good enough opening to take him out.

Other's said that Sonic had finally lost it and joined the side of the crazy and insane. Many had believed Sonic to be a threat from the beginning despite all that he did for them.

Others simply didn't care what Sonic was doing or what his plan was. They believed in their hero and whatever it is he had planned he was going to follow through with it just like he always did.

However, today was different. Not but a few hours ago was the sky blue, bright, and full of clouds. Now it was dark and depressingly threatening. The sky looked angry to most of the citizens and they seemed as though they were rotating in the air.

"Yeah! What's with this traffic! Damnit! Some people have places to be!" Shouted one man wearing a greasy wife-beater and a Nike cap. His car was rusty and run-down and the constant horn honking he was instigating certainly didn't make it look anymore attractive.

The main streets of Station Square were hardly ever backed up so this was a rare inconsistency indeed. The man got so frustrated that he jammed down on the horn for as long as humanly possible before others decided to do it back.

While the people were busy ticking themselves off the rotating clouds became that of a dangerous vortex that not only flashed lighting, it struck the ground fiercely as to get everyone's attention and alert them that black lightning had arrived.

Pretty soon more and more people began to notice as the clouds opened up to reveal a bright light. It shot through the atmosphere and shined all across the city instantly prompting people to cover their eyes if they were to mistakenly look into it.

Then it appeared. Hovering over the city was Prower Castle!

"What! What the hell happened!?" Knuckles shouted noticing that they were suddenly over a city.

"We're all the way back in Station Square!?" Sonic looked down at the city with sweat on his face and a worried expression in his eyes.

"Oh, didn't I tell you? I wish for everyone to take part in the spectacle. I thought it only fair that the citizen's the hedgehog fought so hard to protect share in this world's new beginning." Zerokichi laughed as he floated above everyone still holding Tails who was barely conscious.

Everyone stood there and watched as Zerokichi saw the reactions of the citizens below. There was confusion, anger, fear, and even an odd sense of false bravado. It was amusing to Zerokichi as all this did was prove how insolent humans were.

It didn't take long for the police, G.U.N, and the annoying news helicopters to show up. Zerokichi was well aware of what they were and he purposely waited for the broadcast of the situation that was unfolding to come to the citizen's full attention.

Sonic and the others couldn't do anything but stand and watch as the cloaked schemer stood there getting more and more amused by the moment. The way he held Tails by the hairs of the poor fox's pierced chest angered Sonic a great deal but he couldn't reach him from where he was. And even if he could he had all seven of the chaos emeralds and Tails' dark Kitsune powers at his will.

"D-Darnit! We're powerless… powerless damnit!" Sonic cursed as he fell to his knees in frustration. The rain that had come during the Fate Rising back at Coordinates 000 caught up here as well. The angry and threatening looking clouds gave way and began to rain down on the helpless city.

"Yes… come hither you pathetic existences… come and witness your demise… the time has come to make way for the new world order… the rise of the perfect inhabitants of the universe is at hand!" Darkness shouted into the air.

The response was a repetition of the reaction from before. Awed silence was the phrase. Citizens throughout the entire city had no clue as to why all the activity simotamiously stopped.

As soon as the reports, the police, the G.U.N troops, the pedestrians, and all the other humans were focused on the scene at hand Darkness sent all of the chaos emeralds circling around above his head once again.

"Zerokichi! You bitter sovern of darkness… what is it that you're planning on doing with those emeralds!?" Eggman shouted up at him.

"Doctor, I'm disappointed. I was certain that you of all people would know! I need to not only eradicate these inferior beings but reconfigure this universe as I see fit!" Zerokichi explained as he let each emerald pass by the tip of his gloved finger.

With one small jester he sent all the emeralds straight up into the sky. Everyone down below watched, as the emeralds were all gathered together and made one illuminating sparkle.

That was until Zerokichi summoned up a huge ball of his own black energy and pitched it at the emeralds up above. On contact the light soon turned into and equal mixture of black and white then expanded.

"Behold! Up there is where the reconstruction of the order of the universe will begin! But before I go I must make sure that the dark Kitsune powers have been put to good use! It is that with which I will use to destroy these humans once and for all!" Darkness let his body glow a bright purple as he summoned up another ball of energy.

This time he shot it down toward the city. The energy ball floated downward and stopped before connecting with the street. The ball expanded and out of it came many small creatures similar looking to Tails only they all had red eyes, fiercer body features, and extended fangs!

The citizens were all caught off guard as the creatures all came out from within the sphere of black energy in numerous numbers. Cars were crushed, buses were toppled over, and many facilities and structures became easily tampered with.

The chaos that was taking place quickly spread through out the city as the area the black creatures covered quickly expanded. Their mission was to completely rid the planet and more of these creatures.

The news helicopters taped the massacre from below with a fearful insight. It was astonishing how quickly mayhem began to break out below them.

People were slashed apart; both woman and men alike screamed for their lives, and Tails, still in Zerokichi's clutches winced in an incredible amount of grieving pain.

"… I h-hate you…" Tails mumbled silently.

"HAHAHAHAHA! I'm long past the point of even considering of listening to the dribble that escapes your worthless mouth! My ambition is being realized and you've been drained of the dark powers I've required from you. You're nothing but a worthless shell of a speck of dust to me now. You can die now." Darkness said letting his grip on Tails loosen.

Sonic looked up and saw Zerokichi's fingers uncurling on Tails' chest. The hedgehog grew frightened.

"Tails! No!" Sonic shouted knowing there was nothing he could do from where he stood on the floating castle's grounds.

Darkness let Tails go and the fox plummeted to the city below. His light streaked fast upward as the fox descended to the street filled with destroyed cars.

Tails hit the ground with a noticeable sound induced impact.

Sonic's eyes couldn't stop twitching with worry as he looked down at the city below. It was getting ripped apart literally but the only thing he could focus on was the fox's impact below. The smoke wouldn't clear fast enough as Sonic looked on in a mixture of negative emotions.

His sadness and fear was soon accompanied by rage and anger as he started to hear the previously drowned out laughter that was currently escaping from Zerokichi's mangled mouth.

"YOU! Shut up! This isn't funny damnit! I'll kill you!" Sonic shouted not sure of what else to say.

"It isn't very likely. Just stay there and watch as I remodel the universe. When it's finished I'll kill you all and use your bodies as manikins to show the new race of beings that will soon inhabit this galaxy what inferior scum came before them. Your lifeless shells will prove as reminders to my new race that they must never hinder and end up like any of you all!" Zerokichi laughed as the rain continued to pour adding on to his doomsday scenery.

"NO! You won't win! I'll make sure of it!" Sonic said as he stood himself up. With determination in his eyes he ran towards the building's edge and jumped off of it letting himself drop to the impact below.

"We'll all make sure of it!" The injured Knuckles stated as he perked up with the rest of them.

Rouge smiled at the echidna's statement and grabbed his shoulders then took flight.

"Wh-what are you doing?" He asked confused.

"In the shape you're in jumping off the castle's edge wouldn't serve as a good idea. Allow me to take you down there myself!" Rouge said as she flew down to the city to help fight off the black creatures.

"YEEEEEEAAAAH! LET'S DO THIS CRAZY THING!!" Vector shouted extremely pumped up for one reason or another. With little haste his jumped off the castle to the city below. Espio filled with the same strange enthusiasm decided to shout as well.

"YES! EVIL MUST DIE! BEWARE MY NINJA POWER!!" He jumped off following his boss. Charmy couldn't help but get pumped too.

"YAY! Evil bad guys are gonna get spanking!" Charmy grabbed Shimon's shoulder and flew off the castle with him.

"Hey! I don't want to go too! I need to be safe!" He shouted in fear as the bee continued to pull him closer to the action.

Smokestack stood there and let his mind take over his function. It was clear what needed to be done.

"Let's go Big!" Smoke said as he grabbed Big's arm and used his smoke to bring them both down to the action.

"I'll help as best I can!" Big said with Froggy's rabbit serving as back up agreement.

Zerokichi watched them all go and chuckled to himself. It was incredibly funny how stupid the flesh and blood creatures of now were to him.

"Do as you wish. You'd never be able to destroy them all anyway. While you all are fighting a futile battle I'll be busy reconstructing the universe! Here I come! The day of reckoning is FINALLY here!" Zerokichi flew off toward the huge swirling vortex of black and white light that the Chaos emeralds had created and went inside.

"Err! You creep! If anyone can stop you my Sonic can!" Amy yelled grabbing her hammer and running off the edge as well.

"Hmm… It's maddening isn't it…?" Eggman mumbled as he watched the chaos unfold before him.

Sonic landed on to the crumbled street below with determination and fear still lingering on his face. He ran up to his fox friend's body that had impaled the street and cradled him in his arms.

"Tails… I'm so sorry that this had to happen…" Sonic mumbled as he held him. The light had faded from his body and he was indeed bleeding. Due to him being drained by Zerokichi the impact's effects on his body were unpredictable.

Sonic had seen some pretty depressing stuff in his travels but this… this was just awful…

Sonic hugged the little fox boy and felt his emotions take over. For the first time since their journey began, tears escaped the hedgehog's eyes and dripped on to the ground.

"S-Sonic… a-are you… crying…?" Came a small raspy voice. Sonic's ears perked up as he looked down at his friend. His eyes were open and his lips had moved.

"Tails… y-you're…" Sonic spoke silently.

"Sonic… I'm sorry … did I do something bad to make you cry like that?" Tails said as his whisper slowly became a regular speaking tone.

Sonic didn't answer, as he looked surprised at the small fox's face. He was alive! He was really alive! Sonic's heart was beating a mile a minute as what had just taken place not but a while ago had reminded him of the time Tails had jumped off that cliff back on Westside Island. It scared him so much.

Sonic however was smiling now as tears rolled down his face. He pulled the fox into a hug and chuckled.

"N-no… you didn't do anything wrong. I'm crying because… I'm happy to see you… that's all…" Sonic said. Tails sat there shocked for a second before he hugged him back.

"Thanks Sonic…I-I'm happy…" The fox said.

"Here the city is being destroyed and you two softies are hugging each other in the middle of the street!" Eggman remarked as he made his way up to Sonic and Tails.

The hedgehog and fox stood up and turned to face the doctor and his three flunkies face to face.

"We're as angered about this situation as you are!" Bocoe said.

"Zerokichi won't get away with this! Not with us around!" Decoe remarked.

"Yeah! He's going down! WAY DOWN!" Bokkun shouted.

Sonic looked at them with Tails by his side and chuckled.

"Well what do you suppose we do Eggman?" Sonic said with his famous mocking tone.

"Hmph! As much as I detest you… I hate that traitorous punk Zerokichi even more! However, he escaped into that open light in the sky! If you can somehow reach him then there should be no problem!" Dr. Eggman explained. Sonic and Tails looked up as they noticed the black creatures starting to gather around.

"Sonic! They're coming!" Tails said a bit worried.

"Screw them! They can't hurt us! It's Zerokichi we need to worry about!" Eggman said as his robots and Bokkun got into battle position.

"What is that light anyway?" Tails asked staring up at it while the creatures were fended off by Bocoe, Decoe, and Bokkun.

"It's an unstable mixture of chaos energy and Zerokichi's dark Kitsune power. Most likely what lies in there is an in-between dimension that he's using to remodel the universe in his own image. You two need to get up there and kill him quickly before he makes the biggest chaos rip in history!" Eggman shouted.

"Up there eh?" Sonic asked slightly transfixed by the rain, thunder, and lightning. Tails, who was usually afraid of thunder and lightning, didn't even care right now, as he knew the situation with Zerokichi was more important then a childish fear.

"What about Knuckles? And Amy? And-?" Tails started.

"They're all fine! They're doing what they can to defend this pathetic planet and it's weak citizens from these putrid creatures. Perfect world he says. Blech! There's no such thing. I doubt there's even a such a thing as a perfect Eggman Empire as much as I hate to admit it!" Eggman remarked.

Tails turned to Sonic and Sonic turned to him. They were both thinking the same thing. This is where the hardships needed to end. It was now or never! They had to stop Zerokichi once and for all!

"Okay… are you ready Tails!?" Sonic said curling his hand into a confident fist.

"You bet Sonic!" Tails said back with a noticeable grin.

"I'd never thought I'd say this Sonic but… good luck." Dr. Eggman muttered slightly with his arms crossed.

Tails grabbed Sonic's arms and began to fly. "Thanks Eggman. We won't let this imperfect world down!" Sonic said as they began to ascend into the air.

"Yeah well if you die I'll kill you so make sure you come back alive… so I can kill you!" Eggman shouted as he took out his own personal blaster and began attacking the black creatures along with his robots.

Sonic couldn't help but smile. "Okay! We're ready to go! Let's get that guy Tails!" Sonic shouted up at his little bro.

"Right! Here we go!" Came Tails as he flew Sonic all the way up to the black and white light from above.

_Knuckles was using his powerful fists to punch back as many of the creatures as he possibly could._

_Rouge was using her iron booted feet to break through the lot of them. Her Screw Kick seemed to be doing the trick as the creatures were being driven back._

_Big and his fishing pole was a force to be reckoned with. Especially when provided with extra strength and support from Smokestack's projectiles. The two were defidently making excellent progress._

_Amy and her hammer did what they did best. She ended up bashing in as many heads as she could muster. The more they got in her way the more she got angry and the more her hammer flew!_

_Vector's fire, Espio's kunai, and Charmy's stinger delivered a severe amount of pain to the enemy. They weren't going anywhere! Not while the Chaotix were on the case._

_Shimon, being of sound and body, was able to at least defend himself by using pieces of the debris to hold the creatures off. Even if it didn't hurt them as much the pain they received defidently started to add up._

_Bocoe and Decoe, although far from extremely overwhelmingly powerful fighting mechs, were infact built for a considerable combat. The blows they delivered were indeed devastating. With Bokkun and his rocket-powered kicks by their side, victory was assured for them._

_Dr. Eggman, accompanied with a single blaster but plenty of useful shots, began firing at the disgusting nuisances that crowded around before him. It didn't take a genius to know when it was time to rely on good old fashion personal blasters!_

Tails dodged all the lightning strikes that shot down at him and Sonic as they neared the huge swirling vortex. It was a mixture of light and dark... Night and day... Hope and Despair.

What lied beyond that vortex marked the beginning of the end for something! They just hoped it would be Zerokichi and his twisted ambition.

"We're almost there Sonic!" Tails shouted.

"Great! Keep flying buddy!" Sonic shouted up to him.

"I was never planning to stop! We'll show that creep what happens when you mess with us!" Tails smirked and Sonic once again couldn't help but feel proud.

"Right! Here we go!" The hedgehog shouted back as they penetrated the black and white vortex and made their way toward the final battle.

_**I really hope this was well worth the long wait! Anyway, the final battle starts next time! Review please!**_


	41. Chapter 41

_**Hey there everybody! I'm sorry I was out for so long. It's been weeks hasn't it? Well I'm back and ready with the final battle sequence ready to go! Hold on tight!**_

**Kilatails-** Well it wasn't updated "soon" but this is good right?

**Silver Sheilds-** Thanks. I sure do hope so.

**Shinju the Rabbit-** I wonder if they will too. Hehehe.

**Kitsune-awesomeness-** Got it. Thanks. It's hard writing reviews without sounding like you're copying from the last one. Believe you me.

**You'veBeenJayed-** I love it when new people become excited in my work.

**Snake15000-** Wow indeed

**Raziel777-** Yes. It has truly been a long time coming. It almost makes me feel sad that the story will be ending soon.

**Kitsune-SuperFox-** Yeah. What other kind of Kitsune was Tails meant to be after all? Light suits him.

**TBSparky-** Okay Thanks for reviewing Sparky! See you at the D.A site.

**Chapter 40: Betwixt and Between**

The chaos that erupted from the massacre below was panic striking. Basically everyone who could get away didn't give it any second thought. It was going to be nothing but bloody carnage if they had stayed.

Eggman had successfully destroyed a good majority of them. His attribute is "Power" after all, although the reason why that's true is a mystery even to him considering his old age.

"Oh well, back to maggot dusting!" Eggman smirked as he kept blasting the ugly menaces back. While doing so a thought that he had never thought of crossed his mind.

_'The hedgehog … just might win…'_

_**The Endless Rift- Unknown time**_

_**Behold…**_

"_**This is the endless abyss…**_

_**Those who venture here…**_

_**Never venture out…**_

_**The vastness of it all will cause you to go mentally insane. A very interesting tale was once told about mindless fools who accidentally made it here. They were families of course. And they were trapped…**_

_**Sure… at first they were fixated on sticking together… but it wasn't long before hunger and thirst drove them mad… the parents easily overpowered the scared children… and a few seconds later they had officially reverted …**_

_**To Cannibalism… they even used the child's blood for their drink… can't live without fluids you know. Hmhmhmhmhmhm… Hahahahaha…"**_

"Are we supposed to be scared?" Asked the unfazed blue hedgehog as he picked his ear.

**_"WHAT!"_**

"Why don't you come on out like a non-coward." Sonic chuckled as he and Tails floated there in the chrome, cerulean, and violet colored abyss.

"Nothing you say or do is gonna scare me or Sonic, Zerokichi! I'm not evil! I'm good and I'll always be good!" Tails yelled then finished his taunt with a childish razz.

**"… _Fools that don't know their place are quite bothersome. It's too late to stop this. I've all ready entered the abyss. Soon you're world- ALL the worlds will be in Betwixt and Between…"_**

"Betwixt… and Between? The hell does that mean?" Sonic asked as he floated next to his also confused fox friend.

"_**I wouldn't expect a mere eleven-year-old to understand."**_ Zerokichi stated.

"There's a lot you wouldn't expect of us isn't there?" Tails asked mocking the way Zerokichi taunted.

"_**Hmph…you'll see soon enough. The ramifications of your actions have lead to a very regretful position you're in… time to step it up… after all… you two speak of fortuitous friendship and mental companionship but how do you know this won't happen again? How do you know the other won't betray you in the future if there WAS going to be one for you?"**_ Zerokichi asked.

Sonic and Tails stayed silent.

_**"Why fight for humanity and animals and all the other imperfect and foolishly distraught races? What's your purpose? If not perfection then WHAT?!"**_

"…" Tails was silent. He didn't know what to say. He had never thought about what might happen if Sonic betrayed him or if he ended up betraying Sonic again. If they're all imperfect that would make the two of them the same way right? Tails wanted to be reassured…

"Heheheheh… Hahahahahaha!" Sonic laughed. Tails and Zerokichi, although you couldn't see him, were shocked.

**_"What prey tell is so funny?"_**

"Seriously… you're like a broken record… playing a _**VEEEEERY **_annoying song. I won't pretend to know what happens in the future… but I do know this… even if Tails and me all of a sudden begin hating each other right here and now… you'd still be the one getting the beat down. Know why? Because no matter how much we like or hate each other… we'll both always hate someone like you more! You're going down! Way down!"

"_**Even if the fox became evil on his own accord?"**_

"Hey, if Eggman can see it then Tails is more then capable of seeing it too. Any new perfect order created by you… would be the exact opposite of what you claim it's going to be. That's just the way it is." Sonic said.

Tails looked at Sonic with his eyes gleaming with a large amount of hero admiration.

"He's right! YEAH! He's right! I'll never hate Sonic ANYWAY so there's no reason to worry about that! The only reason I killed anyone was because of YOU!" Tails yelled out to Zerokichi wherever he was.

It was silent for a quick ¼ of a minute.

**"_It would seem that my final attempt to get through to you both has failed… fine… I see how it is…"_**

The abyss shook.

"Wh-What's going on Sonic?!" Tails shouted clinging to the hedgehog.

"Not sure… but… I think something's coming!" Sonic shouted as the abyss fluctuated out of control.

The lining of it began to form and mold itself into a configured shape of a giant Kitsune!

"Whoa…" Sonic said while looking straight up at it. The fierceness in its eyes and the sharpness of its teeth were intimidating. It quickly sprouted limbs with dangerous accessories to its fingers and feet. The backside sported nine long and power induced tails.

"What is that thing?!" Tails asked staring at it clearly frightened.

_**"It is my servant! I created it from the power of the Chaos Emeralds that now circulate this abyss!"**_

"Where is he?" Sonic said looking around, beads of sweat visible on his frustrated face.

"There! He's perched on that thing's head!" Tails said pointing the kitsune's forehead.

"You can see him?" Sonic asked turning to the fox.

"Y-Yeah… it's this weird power connection thing…" Tails mumbled a bit unsure of how to accurately explain it.

"Well whatever! We know where he is so we'll just defeat him!" Sonic said as he and Tails floated there with determined looks.

_**"And how do you expect to do that? You could barely stand up against me with your very limited power…"**_

"Heheheh. You really need to stop that taunting of yours. It's going to be your downfall in a few seconds." Sonic grinned a bit trying his best to hide the fact that he was a bit worried his plan wouldn't work.

"_**What are you talking about?"**_ Zerokichi asked as his fox incarnation snarled.

"You said the power of the Chaos Emeralds in-circled this place and that you drew in their power to make that thing right? Well then! We'll just draw in our own power!" Sonic boasted.

"C-Can we do that?" Tails asked.

"You can buddy! I know you can! Draw it in to become the Kitsune of Light once more while I draw it in to become something with parallel strength. It'll take a little longer for me though! Do your best to fend him off while I get ready okay?" Sonic asked raising his hand, hoping to draw from the emeralds power, wherever they were.

Tails almost freaked.

"S-Sonic!? Y-You're asking me to protect you!? But I- It's too much responsibility! I can't!" Tails began until he saw Sonic look up at the fox.

Sonic then smirked.

"Stupid fox."

"Huh? S-Sonic… what did…"

"I called you stupid. And you're a scardy cat too!" Sonic snarled back. Tails was confused. Zerokichi was suddenly intrigued by Sonic's behavior.

"Go away and leave me alone to die then! So much for your help!" Sonic said turning away.

"…" Tails didn't know what to say.

"Mwhahahaha! Good one proving me right hedgehog! Keep going! It amuses me! The fox might just cry again! It makes me feel giddy inside just thinking about it!" He shouted from across the area.

"SHUT UP!" Tails yelled at Zerokichi, which took him by surprise. He then turned to Sonic with a teary eyed face.

"You're a jerk you know that?! I'm here right now aren't I?! Of course I want to help!" Tails shouted.

"Hmph. Then protect me while I charge up. You can at least do that right can't you?" Sonic said with his eyes half-open.

"ERR! You bet I can! You taught me that I could do anything noble I put my heart too and I'm not letting you go back on your word just as I'm not going back on believing it!" Tails shouted.

That's when Sonic unexpectedly put his palm on Tails' head and rubbed it softly. It shocked Tails a bit but when he looked up he saw Sonic's smiling face back to the way it was.

"Okay then. Do it. I dare you. " Sonic said winking at the fox.

Tails floated there confused for a second before slowly beginning to smile.

"Y-Yes! Yes Sonic! I will! I'll protect you! I can do it! I know I can! Sorry. I kinda forgot what I had learned from you because of this freaky mess. Thanks for being all harsh and stuff." Tails said with a determined chuckle.

"Hey, it's no problem. We've done this before you know. Like I said before come to me again when you need a good scolding." Sonic laughed raising his hands back up.

"Gotcha!" Tails shouted.

Zerokichi was a bit disappointed to see that it was all just an act but quickly perked up again once he realized that Tails would be facing him alone.

"_**You really are that stupid! Guess I was REALLY wrong when I thought you could actually be my apprentice! Oh well!" **_He shouted.

"Heh! You were right. After all I'm too good for you. Why would you want an apprentice that started out all ready surpassing the master?" Tails taunted easily angering Zerokichi to the max.

"_**Quite a big head you've got! I'll finish this quickly then!"**_ He shouted as his Kitsune giant formed a huge blast within its mouth. Tails just stood there with his arms across his chest and his hands curled into fists.

"Bring it!" Tails shouted.

"_**As you wish!" **_Zerokichi shouted back at Tails with equal enthusiasm and had the Kitsune figure fire it's large blast at Tails.

Sonic floated there as he began to draw in a large amount of energy.

Tails waited for the blast to come. He wasn't getting out of the way of this!

_**"Is he crazy?"**_

Tails couldn't help but smile as the blast hit him head on. Sonic saw it but wasn't worried. After all, this was the Kitsune of light they were talking about.

His faith wasn't misguided. Tails took the full force of the blast head on and allowed the light within his body to react to it. This caused it to shine out with a huge gust of surging light energy.

Zerokichi watched the scene unfold in front of him. Despite how ticked off he was… he was also very excited by this. Tails being defeated this easily would've been boring. Let's let the world conquest be a fun thing shall we?

Tails absorbed all the light energy he had accumulated and began to concentrate it within himself. He finally reassessed his new form. He was the Kitsune of light once again.

"Now… let's fight for real this time!" Tails said launching himself at Zerokichi.

"_**RAH!"**_ Zerokichi shouts as he launches his powerful Kitsune at Tails. It spins into an even more powerful tornado of itself and launches at the fox. Tails retaliates by pushing his fists in front of him and allowing the light to charge within himself.

The collision that results afterward was spectacular to say the least.

Both creatures flew back and both chuckled by the immense power that was emanating from each other. It was clear to both that Tails took the most damage however. In this form though, he simply cared a lot less then he usually did. The reason however is unknown.

The Kitsune didn't waist anytime firing many star shaped blasts at Tails while he was weakened. Tails, obviously having no choice but to face them head on due to his promise to protect Sonic, rammed straight into them using his own powers of light to break through them.

This action took a serious toll on Tails' body, however. It wasn't long before slamming into three of the blasts prompted Tails to cough up a small amount of blood.

Zerokichi didn't allow this to escape his notice. He immediately took it upon himself to get the giant Kitsune to slash at Tails with its mighty claws. Tails took that head on too, which prompted him to fly a large considerable distance backward.

Tails had to stop and clutch his chest for a quick second, as he couldn't handle this amount of pain all in one set-up. It was too much to bear in one fight. However, Sonic trusted him… he needed protection and Tails was the one who was going to give it no matter what!

Sonic floated in the abyss and watched Tails struggle.

"Good job buddy… just keep fending him off for me for just a little bit longer… you can do it… I know you can!" Sonic said as he felt a huge shimmer of power being drawn in within himself. He was almost ready.

Tails noticed Sonic was almost where he needed to be. This made him smile but it didn't put them in the clear yet. Tails fired himself at Zerokichi and his Kitsune pet once more.

"_**This is an amusing controversy but this is where it must end!" **_Zerokichi allowed his voice to boom across the area for emphasis. Once more his Kitsune pet fired a thunderous blast at Tails in an attempt to stop him.

The fox, seeing it coming, had no other choice but to stalemate it. He pulled back his light powered fist and threw a powerful punch at the blast. The results were less then satisfactory. He had succeeded in stopping the blast from hitting Sonic but injured himself a great deal with his little stunt.

Tails flew back again with his face full of sweat and his breathing incredibly shaken…

"I-I… don't know if I'll be able to do that again…" Tails moaned as his vision began to blur a bit.

"_**Too bad… as I know for a fact that I'll be able to fire my blast again! Like I said before it's a shame that in the end you amounted to nothing but a bunch of inter-dimensional dust."**_ Zerokichi said and without a second notion fired another powerful blast at the injured fox.

Tails closed his eyes waiting for the in evadable.

Before the attack hit though a bright golden light shown in front of Tails. The fox having his eyes closed noticed its glimmer through his eyelids. He slowly opened them and saw the golden hero in front of him with sparkles of the disrupted blast from the Kitsune figure sprayed all over the place.

Tails couldn't help but gaze at how amazing the scene in front of him looked. It was incredible! The blast had been stopped by none other then his best friend, Sonic the Hedgehog. Not only did he stop it but he looked badass doing it too.

"S-SONIC! You finished! You saved me!" Tails shouted happily as his eyes glimmered.

The hedgehog floated there for a few seconds in his new golden-lit persona before turning to Tails with a huge grin on his face.

"Sure did…what'd you think was going to happen?" Sonic laughed.

"You're all glowy and bright gold colored now?! What are you?!" Tails asked.

"I don't really know but I feel super in this form... just call me Super Sonic!" Sonic shouted.

Zerokichi was taken by surprise by the sudden change in events.

"_**If you think it'll help then fine! Come give me your best shot!"**_ Zerokichi fired more numerous blasts at the two of them.

"That won't work anymore." Sonic said easily using his power to ram into all of them and destroyed all the blasts with his power alone.

"_**What?"**_ Zerokichi was confused.

"Sorry but if I was able to destroy those so easily your creature certainly won't stand much of a chance against me! Now surrender!" Sonic boasted.

Zerokichi did nothing but stare at them and chuckle.

"_**Sorry but I hold all the cards here! You're just nothing but glowing specks of dust to me!"**_ He shouted and fired at them once more.

Sonic and Tails allowed themselves to charge at it. Tails took the hit with semi-damage this time. He wasn't sure why until he realized what he was drawing power from besides his own Kitsune power.

"It's the emeralds… are they… willingly giving me power?" Tails asked. Sonic simply grinned.

"_**Willingly?! That's absurd! Fire!" **_Zerokichi angrily gestured and the monster complied.

Tails however knew it was true. The emeralds were consciences of great power. They knew how to lock on to the ones that let their light shine to the purest extent! It was true! They were giving both him and Sonic power! Time to put it to good use then!

Sonic and Tails both evaded and easily slammed into, thus destroying, every blast fired at them. Whenever they ran out of strength or were fatigued they miraculously recovered through their own light. It was a feat that confused Zerokichi to know end. How were they doing this?

"Ready Tails?!" Sonic asked reappearing once again after dodging another attack.

"Ready Sonic!" Tails answered as he too allowed himself to make his reappearance.

"_**It would seem that mere blasting won't be enough. That's fine though. I'll just attack you straight on!"**_ Zerokichi pointed forward which prompted his beast of Chaos Emerald energy under the influence of dark powers to begin spinning itself into a tornado before firing itself at Sonic and Tails.

The amount of power it was generating was miraculous. It was clear that this was going to be a full-power attack!

Both Sonic and Tails stood their ground however. It was also clear that they were planning on taking the attack head on!

"_**You two must have a death wish! Prepare to go the way of all the weak vulgar that dare oppose me!"**_ Zerokichi shouted then launched his Kitsune beast out at them.

Sonic closed his eyes, as did Tails. They both were focused on the primary objective. Defeat Zerokichi… no matter what it took!

The kitsune's might drew closer with each spin. The two dared not move as it did though.

_"As long as there's someone who believes in me… I won't give up… not ever!"_ Tails thought in his head.

The beast was upon them! It struck at them with all its might. That's when Sonic and Tails both opened their eyes in unison. The combined forces between the two of them sent out a powerful shockwave of light at the beast.

It was more then enough to send it flying back riddling with pain. The cry it released was indeed one of anguish. It was in turmoil.

**_"What is this… what have you DONE?!" _**Zerokichi shouted in anger as he watched the beast fall back.

Sonic and Tails both curled up their fists and allowed an enormous amount of power to release from within themselves.

"Can you feel it Tails?" Sonic asked with a proud voice.

"Yeah… I feel it." Tails answered back.

The two charged up to the max then shot themselves straight out at the hurt beast.

Without another glance they both shot straight throw it as if they were hot knives slicing through butter! They continued to do so until the beast and its cries reverted back to mere chaos energy!

The eruption of power that resulted caused both Sonic and Tails to revert back to their regular forms however. Still it was crystal clear that they had beaten it.

Zerokichi simply floated there with a less then amused look on his face.

"We… we won… we won…" Tails said.

"Not yet buddy… it's Zero's turn next!" Sonic said turning to the floating deity.

Zerokichi's eyes were fixated on the scene before him. His chaos emerald powered creature was no longer alive. It would seem that even these chaos emeralds favored the light more…

_**"It's an even bigger disappointment that the most powerful items in the universe favor the foolish as well…"**_ Zerokichi said.

"What'd you say? We're gonna kick your ass! You know that right?" Sonic said approaching the deity.

"_**Ha… you still have no idea of the still overwhelming power I possess." **_Zerokichi poofed away then reappeared next to the exhausted fox.

"Stay away from him!" Sonic shouted back.

"Huh?" Tails looked up before getting slugged in the face by Zerokichi. He flew back into the clutches of the cloaked schemer's dark sprouts that had formed while they were talking.

"W-where'd those come from?" Sonic asked as he turned to face the scene.

"S-Sonic! I- AHHH!" Tails felt the sprouts pierce his skin and send dark energy jolts throughout his body.

"_**You will stay silent."**_ Zerokichi sent his spores at Sonic and the same ordeal took place with the hedgehog. The spores gave them both no mercy as their skin was all but punctured harshly.

"Y-You!" Sonic struggled.

"_**Now watch as I show you what I truly think of your pathetic kind."**_ Zerokichi raised a fist and punched Tails across the face.

The fox's mouth and nose instantly began to bleed as the fist ended its connection. Tails cried for a second but didn't let it get him down.

"Tails! You stop it right now you- ARRRGH!" Sonic shouted in pain as the electric shock took hold of him.

"_**Stay silent. I want him to suffer for all the wasted time he put me through!"**_ Zerokichi punched Tails yet again. Tails' mouth and nose bled even more. _**"I could've skipped over trying to manipulate you and just activated your power so you would kill endlessly. That would've prompted you to build up that power without me having to waist my breath on you." **_He said harshly.

He punched Tails once more, which prompted Tails to moan in pain.

"S-Sooniiiic…" Tails mumbled.

"Tails…" Sonic murmured.

Zerokichi looked at Tails' face. The fox was hurt but he suddenly turned to face the cloaked schemer in front of him.

"I… I won't… give in to you…" Tails said in defiance.

**_"Oh ho. Shut up… I've heard it all before!"_** Zerokichi punched Tails across his face once again.

Tails let his blood spill out of his mouth. Zerokichi laughed in response.

"Hahahaha. It pleases me so. You both are... huh?"

Tails looked up at Zerokichi with his eyes fierce and full of determination.

"I mean it… you don't hold any power over me… I won't give in to you… and… neither will Sonic!" Tails said while huffing and puffing a bit.

_**"You minuscule-!"**_ Zerokichi punched Tails harder.

Tails forced himself to face the deity again. This time tears were visible on his face but he still had the same fierceness and determination in his eyes that made Zerokichi fall back a bit.

_**"Stop looking at me like that!"**_ He yelled getting ready to pound on Tails once again. However, before he could he was met with a stinging homing attack to the face.

Zerokichi fell to the ground as the blue hedgehog, now basking in his victory, approached him.

"Tails is right! I'm not going to let a tiny little sprout do me in and neither is he! Right buddy!" Sonic asked.

Tails nodded slowly before grunting and tugging against the spores with all his strength. Despite the electric wave he was successfully able to break free.

The fox fell to his knees in satisfaction. He really was strong. There was no doubting that now. He felt like falling to the floor and crying but this defidently wasn't the time to look weak in front of the enemy.

Sonic walked over to Tails and got down to his level. His gloved hand patted his back as he began to chew out Zerokichi for his actions.

"You've been toying with us all this time haven't you… or at least that's what you **tried** to do. Bet you didn't think we'd be this powerful did ya? But your plan won't work. We know you've all ready reached the core of this place and you're simply stalling for time before whatever curse you put on it takes hold. We're not as dumb as you think you know!" Sonic said helping Tails stand up right.

_**"… If you've figured it out then go… try and get past me… thanks to this new Kitsune power I've obtained there's no way you'd both be able to take me in your regular forms."**_ Zerokichi boasted.

"You can still be hurt though as my homing attack clearly showed. Best be careful that over inflated ego doesn't cause your head to explode." Sonic said waving his finger at the still frustrated mastermind.

**_"You're kidding yourselves if you truly think that this is anywhere near close to being over! After all, I still have my dark Kitsune power and you both seem to be running out. Now if you'll excuse me. I must check up on the core to see how well it's developing."_** Zerokichi chuckled as he floated off toward the highest point within the abyss.

"He's… getting away…" Tails said while looking up in disgust.

_**"HmHmHmHm… Here's a little going away present for the both of you. It should prove satisfactory if it's a fight you're looking for!"**_ Zerokichi chimed as he snapped his latex gloved fingers. In a flash an enormous horde of the creatures attacking the planet below appeared in front of Sonic and Tails.

Zerokichi looked down at the two helpless creatures surrounded by flesh eating and blood drinking monsters.

_**"It is hopeless… I was hopeless the very second my plan was set in motion…"**_ Zerokichi mumbled and snapped his fingers once more. This time a small portal opened up showing Sonic and Tails the events taking place outside.

Knuckles was bleeding badly and on his last legs.

Amy was tuckered out. So much hammer waving took a serious toll on her.

Charmy was half-conscious and Espio and Vector weren't doing much better.

Smokestack was still fighting fiercely even though the fatigue on his face was clearly beginning to show.

Shimon had been knocked out and Big and Rouge were trying their best to stay out of harms way while protecting him.

Bocoe, Decoe, and Bokkun were running out of stalling ideas.

And Dr. Eggman… simply stood there and watched the creatures advance upon him.

"Even Eggman eh…?" Sonic mumbled as he watched all his friends, rivals, and enemies fight for them. The fight that would determine the future of all flesh and blood creatures created originally upon this Earth was in all of their hands… and they were… failing…

**_"Your power is quite amusing, I must admit. Even if it is a bit… strong… perhaps even stronger then my original power ...but it matters not when your power is limitless. Thanks to the Kitsune I now have all I need to obtain my goal. This entire world of imperfect minuscule rodents and sapiens will pay for their wrong-doing."_** He shouted down to them as the creatures began to advance on them.

Sonic huffed and puffed as he grabbed his arm.

"And what exactly is there wrong doing huh? I suppose you have an answer for me there?" Sonic grinned at the deity, his vision beginning to blur.

**_"I'm done explaining and trying to get through to you both. You shall now die at the hands of one who is superior to you in every way. May your bones be savored and licked dry by my spawns…"_** Zerokichi said as he smugly teleported his way back to the core.

Sonic tried to kick at them but it really was no use. Him and Tails were too drained. It seemed hopeless… but then again…

"It's seemed hopeless before… why should this be any different?" Sonic asked himself.

Tails was on his knees. The pain was getting to him indeed. He had never felt so drained in his entire life. The fact that he was still conscious was a miracle.

"S-Sonic… how are we… gonna get… our power back…" Tails said almost losing it completely and falling to the floor.

The creatures began to slobber, drool, and wet up the area with their saliva as the idea of eating the two helpless animals in front of them came full-circle.

"… I usually say… to the ladies… that there's plenty of Sonic to go around… but despite that… I think these guys are gonna have a hard time sharing out the two of us." Sonic said falling on his butt and scooting against Tails' back.

The creatures extended their claws.

"… Y-Yeah…" Tails silently agreed with Sonic as he too fell on his bottom and let his back touch Sonic's.

They watched as their friends struggled outside...

They watched as Zerokichi's time ticked away in his favor...

They watched as the advancing creatures' saliva began to tarnish their shoes...

Through out all of this the only thing on Sonic and Tails' minds were...

"… Heheheh… Chilidogs…" The two mumbled. This instantly confused the beasts.

Zerokichi, who was watching elsewhere with his own tele-portal, became very confused as well.

_**"… Have they gone mad? The fools are inches away from death and THAT'S all they can think about. Is this situation not dire enough for them?"**_ He asked as he floated in front of Betwixt and Between's core.

The creatures had stopped to look at the two before continuing their advancement.

"… I can't wait to try them again. You still promise to teach me how to make the Ultra Super Mega Sonic Supreme Chilidog one day right?" Tails asked the hedgehog that was now against his back.

"A promise is a promise buddy… I always keep my word… pretty soon you'll be a pro at making those dogs…" Sonic laughed.

"… Can't wait…" Tails murmured back almost fainting right there.

Zerokichi didn't know what to make of this scene. Were they simply ignoring their current situation or was this some sort of taunting?

**_"Or maybe their final seconds of life dealt them a blow to their subconscious and they really have gone mad…"_** He suggested as he continued to watch hoping for hedgehog and fox chunks to make their way on to his pet's mouths.

Sonic noticed Tails was getting fatigued but didn't let it bother him that much. He simply sat there and looked up at the colors that encircled the abyss.

"… Tails…" Sonic asked in a voice that mirrored Tails' weakened one.

It took a few seconds but Tails answered.

"... Yeah…"

"When we get out of this… promise me something…"

"… Okay… anything…"

"Promise me… you won't get intiminated by me for doing this…" Sonic grinned. Tails chuckled to himself.

"I won't… I promise…" Tails turned his head slightly to meet the hedgehog's.

Sonic nodded then raised his hands as the creatures were about to eat their faces off. That's when a sudden eruption of power took place in front of them all.

"You guys ever wonder… why it took you guys so long to reach us? It was the power we had holding you back. Me and Tails felt it would've been nice to have a nice conversation before fully executing our plan." Sonic spilled them all the beans.

**_"What plan?!"_** Zerokichi clutched his fist together in tremendous anger. This was bothersome to him!

Sonic's grin grew wider and if you took the time to look you'd notice that so did Tails'.

"Let's go…" Tails said.

"Right! Power explosion time baby!" Sonic shouted as the source of their returning strength appeared in front of them.

The seven chaos emeralds circled the two of them suddenly and sent an enormous shockwave of power outward at them all.

The result was truly one to see. The blast not only took out the beast's that were surrounding them but all of the beasts within the abyss. The power of the chaos emeralds were truly a force to be reckon with.

Once the creatures were gone Sonic and Tails allowed themselves to be healed. Not but a second later were they both back on their feet.

Once the two had dusted themselves off Sonic proceeded with his famous taunt.

"Hey Zerokichi… I know you're watching us. Seems like you weren't as smart as you made yourself out to be. When your Kitsune creature was destroyed you left both the FULL power of the chaos emeralds and the emeralds themselves unchecked. Oh well. I was able to home into their power and now we have em. Tough break eh?" Sonic said waving his index finger in the air knowing Zerokichi was getting an eye-full.

"Your perfect kingdom might turn out to be a pretty stupid one if it was ever going to be made!" Tails shouted as he made a huge raspberry face at Zerokichi.

There was silence. It was a scary uncomfortable chilly silence that told Sonic and Tails that Zerokichi had seen and heard enough.

Then without much warning at all a huge flash of red light teleports the two of them out of the abyss and to Zerokichi's location. This also happens to be the location of the infamous Betwixt and Between…

"Whoa! Where is this?!" Tails asked.

"L-look at that!" Sonic shouted pointing ahead of the two of them. Tails looked forward and saw what Sonic was pointing at.

It was a massive red energy core with blazing red light and a fiery center within it sitting there.

**_"Behold… it's magnificent is it not? Truly a work of stunning proportion."_** Zerokichi said as he appeared behind the two of them.

"This smoking pile of wasted black magic is what you wanted all along?" Sonic asked with a bit of a stern face.

_**"Oh no. I don't simply want it… I want to change it. Alter it into what the true definition of perfection is! It shall be a magnificent transformation!"**_ Zerokichi preached with the look of madness plastered on his face.

"That's what you think!" Tails shouted back feeling really hyped for this. He was finally going to do what he set out to do.

**_"You two pathetic fools and you're care bear colored pals don't even realize the extent of the situation you've gotten yourselves into. Out right opposing someone like me is suicide!"_** He shouted allowing his hands to glow.

"Really? Well I guess if I'm going to my grave then I might as well sprint there. Any place worth going down fighting is worth running to at least, right?" Sonic shot back not at all feeling scared.

Zerokichi floated there in silence as if re-considering something.

**_"… I'm done now…"_** He suddenly spoke.

"Excuse me?" Sonic asked a bit confused.

**_"I'm done conversing in this friendly matter… and I'm done being generous. No more tricks… no more gimmicks… just full-out brawling until one of us remains…sound fun?"_**

"…" Sonic's face was suddenly serious as he homed in on Zerokichi's outlook.

**_"… Just for the heck of it… I'll offer you both one last chance… I'll admit your talents are quite unique. With a bit of fine-tuning you could be apart of my perfect world as well… however I think I know what your answer will be…"_** Zerokichi stated.

"No…" Tails mouthed. Zerokichi sighed.

The deity's hands began to spark with a black light.

**_"Then you shall die where you both now stand!"_** He said firing his dark powers out at Tails and Sonic.

The two dodged quickly and watched as the blast flew far behind them.

Tails flew toward Zerokichi and tried to punch him but he was easily grabbed and tossed behind him. Before he could fully turn his attention back Sonic was upon him.

The hedgehog tried to kick him but once again the deity was able to block it with his power. Sonic didn't let up and allowed his strength to carry over to a huge punch. Zerokichi easily grabbed it and expected the other fist to be used next.

Instead, Sonic did the opposite and kicked Zerokichi's chin with his free leg. This was enough to at least send him back a bit but it didn't get him down for long. Sonic came down with his fist extended and ready for a punch. However, Zerokichi, who had recovered faster then expected, grabbed Sonic's fist, flipped him over, and punched the hedgehog across the face. The hedgehog flew across the area and quickly stopped himself.

Zerokichi didn't waist his time in firing up his power and firing at the two of them. Sonic and Tails ducked through it with amazing speed but as soon as they reached Zerokichi he let his all out power explode at their faces.

The two flew into the air with a shocked expression on.

"S-Sonic! The emeralds!" Tails pointed out.

"Gotcha!" Sonic said summoning the seven of them up. "Can you become the Kitsune of Light again?"

Tails looked at his body and shook his head.

"Sorry… I'm too drained… not even the chaos emeralds would…"

"Hey, it's all right! I'll just share my power with you!" Sonic smirked and allowed the emerald's power to quickly embrace them both.

Zerokichi fired a powerful blast at them once again fully fixated on hitting them.

Sonic had quickly used the power to get the best handle over the situation by turning into his Super form. The blast was reflected by Sonic's fist easily afterwards.

"Now then. Come help me Tails!" Sonic said as he held up his hands and began transferring his power to Tails. The two became particularly strong just then.

_**"I see! But it won't be enough. You and your friends are running out of time!"**_ Zerokichi shouted firing another blast at them.

"Here we come!" Tails shouted as both him and Sonic flew toward the blast and tried their best to cut through it. When they did successfully they met up with Zerokichi head on.

Blast after blast and punch after punch was delivered in a blazing amount of prosperous speed and power.

It seemed like a stalemate for a while but soon both sides began to lose power and fatigue from the constant pummeling.

_Back in Station Square_

"Is he going to win?" A person asked as he looked up at the sky.

"Come on! You can do it Sonic! You and that fox!" Shouted another person.

"Don't lose!" Came the voice of a child.

More and more supportive voices came from below and made their way to the Betwixt and Between where the three fighters were…

_Betwixt and Between_

The three had exchanged many hard and Earth-shattering blows. Now that Zerokichi was relying simply on the dark powers of the Kitsune and the other two were relying on the light powers of the chaos emeralds the victor couldn't easily be determined.

Suddenly the voices reached their ears. As soon as the sound waves made contact the three of them stopped, as what had just happened was an incredibly strange occurrence.

_**"Wh-what was that? It can't be?"**_ Zerokichi turned around and faced his tele-portal. Both Sonic and Tails looked outside at it as well.

There they saw the grandest site to ever grace a hero's eyes.

Everyone, literally everyone was standing outside looking in at them. They were watching the fight and cheering both Sonic **AND **Tails on.

It seemed like the picture of a miracle. To Zerokichi however…

**_"N-no… they should've been dead by now! How! How did this happen?! DAMNIT! This foolish existence simply refuses to die! What stubborn people! What happened to my creatures?!"_** Zerokichi basically yelled at the portal of cheering citizens.

On the outside, all the heroes that had fought were watching in extreme delight as the fight carried on.

"We defeated them of course. Looks like you're a bit misinformed on who was REALLY in-charge of our union! HAHAHAHA!" Eggman shouted as he and his robots shared a hardly laugh upon a pile of smooth wreckage.

"It certainly wasn't easy." Bocoe admitted.

"But it wasn't that hard." Decoe pointed out as well.

"Once Sonic gave us that nice boost we were A-okay! Hahahahahaha." Bokkun chuckled.

Zerokichi's eyes widened as he was given this new information. He slowly turned around to face the hedgehog in question, his back hunched a bit from frustration.

_**"Y-You… you're the one that did it!"**_ He said.

Sonic waved his index finger smugly.

"Hey, I supplied the energy but it was Tails' idea!" Sonic said playfully giving the fox a noogie. Tails chuckled and laughed.

Zerokichi's eye twitched. The two of them, throughout all of this, had failed to **_stop_** laughing! It was as if they considered him a **_joke_**!

**_"How dare you laugh at this you urchins! Is my taking over this pathetic universe not important or deadly enough for you?!"_** He shouted while shaking his clutched fist at them.

Another intruding voice came from below.

"Oh shut up!" This came from Amy.

**_"What?"_** Zerokichi said turning to the girl.

"You're not in charge of us and you're certainly not stronger then they are!" Amy yelled while sticking out her tongue.

_**"Y-you are a-"**_ Zerokichi began before he was interrupted again.

"Oooo! Another insult! I'm quaking in my boots!" Vector said out loud as he, Charmy, and Espio exchanged a laugh.

'_They're all crazy! Why are they acting like this? This is MY time not theirs! I'M the one who should be celebrating!'_

"Guess that legend was just what I thought it was. A spineless punk in a kingdom that was to good for him setting out to create a universal order that was doomed to fail is what it was. Kinda sad ain't it." Knuckles said while sitting on a rock and drinking from a can of soda.

"Yeah, I don't even know why I was afraid of that legend any more." Shimon smiled and laughed for the first time since he had been on this adventure.

'_They're… mocking me…?!'_

"I guess it's finally over. The destruction you caused will finally be undone… by two brats no less." Smokestack said with a small smile gracing his face.

"How totally embarrassing!" Rouge said before her, Froggy, and Big burst out laughing.

_'They HAVE gone mad!'_

**_"Infidels! I am your superior! You will obey me! You will cower before my power!"_** Zerokichi shouted out to them.

The people heard his rants but ignored him and simply kept chanting Sonic and Tails' names.

Zerokichi was hit with realization like a mallet connecting with an egg. These fools… no longer feared him… and it was because of _**them?**_

Zerokichi turned to face Sonic and Tails to see the most angering scene in his life.

They were straight up **_laughing_** at him!

"Well, I guess we know which one of the three of us is the big loser in all of this!" Sonic laughed, literally holding his gut.

"Y-yeah! I can't believe I got suckered in by the crap that you said to me!" Tails laughed as tears almost fell out of his eyes from the humor of it all.

Zerokichi couldn't get any angrier. His fist was clutched so tight that it cut through his gloves and the palm of his hands, making them bleed.

_**"Stop that incessant laughing!"**_ He demanded.

Sonic and Tails ignored him and kept laughing.

"Perfect Order! What a joke!" Sonic said as he and Tails played on Zerokichi's obvious weakness. His unstable anger was getting the best of him.

_**"I told you to shut the hell up!"**_ He said erupting with power. This didn't intimidate the two of them though.

"It'd be an embarrassment to be an apprentice to you!" Tails said and kept on laughing.

They continued to laugh.

The crowd continued to cheer.

Zerokichi could NOT take this any longer!

..................

_**"I SAID SHUT THE HELL UP! I'LL KILL YOU!!!"**_ He shouted blasting straight at Sonic and Tails.

The two grew sly grins on their faces which Zerokichi didn't notice until it was too late.

_**FLASH!**_

Silence.

A bright flash took place that blocked out the entire tele-portal…

The people below were shocked and looked on in anxiousness…

The bright light that followed was blinding and slightly fearful… and as the light shown… memories were played throughout their minds…

All the deaths… all the mayhem… all the destruction… all the pain… all the sorrow…

The light soon started to dissipate and eventually the scene of what had happened was shown in front of them.

There, in the Betwixt and Between, stood Super Sonic… and the now _**Kitsune of Light!**_

The crowd cheered as they saw Tails in his powerful form once again. Everyone was going wild by the scenes taking place in front of them.

"… Got it… nice plan eh?" Sonic asked as he looked ahead of himself.

"I liked it… I don't think he did though." Tails said.

There in front of them… was a completely powerless Zerokichi… at least he was of all the new power he had gained.

**_"W-why… WHY IS MY DARK KITSUNE POWER GONE!!!?"_** He shouted in tremendous anger.

"It's not gone…" Tails said. Zerokichi's eyes fluctuated a bit when he heard that.

"Take a closer look at Tails. Notice the bright white light emanating from him." Super Sonic smirked.

_**"But… my power was… dark… not light…**_" Zerokichi said while on his knees.

"That's because I transferred it to myself… and it instantly became light!" Tails explained with a cheery proud smile on his face.

Zerokichi's face was obviously shocked.

_**"I-Impossible… I… I could never do that… I had to wait until you used the power so much that it became unstable… how were you able to…?"**_ He asked.

"That's a stupid question… it's like I told you. This was all doomed to fail!" Sonic said putting his thumb down for emphasis.

"In short… the light intentions always outweigh the dark! You've been **_defeated _**Zerokichi!" Tails shouted.

**_"… Hahahaha… defeated… really… no… NO DAMNIT! It is not over… I'm not finished yet…"_** He said while forcing himself to stay materialized.

"Really? What do you mean?" Sonic asked looking a bit puzzled.

_**"Don't tell me you didn't notice… did you not think it was a bit weird that someone as strong as me would falter to you fools so easily?"**_

"You called all of THAT easy?"

_**"Well… for you common vulgar folk it might not have been… but the fact remains that this isn't over… my reserve power was given to the core behind me! There's no escaping its blast. If I can't make the perfect world order then I'll at least have the satisfaction of knowing I completely wiped out the inferior one! HAHAHAHA!"**_

Super Sonic and Tails simply floated there.

"I've heard enough out of you… you're powerless and at our mercy… don't do anything hasty and we might let you live." Sonic threatened.

**_"Really? In that case I might as well strangle the fox and bury his body in a dry ditch! You can't kill me… an 11-year-old wannabe like you doesn't have the bravado it takes…"_**

"… Wanna bet?"

Zerokichi and Sonic had a small eye contact stand still before the deity smiled and answered.

**_"Why yes! YES I WOULD! NOW DIE FOX!"_** He shouts immediately turning his attention to Tails. With one quick motion he raised his cloaked hand for one final blast.

Tails, having been taken off guard, quickly tried to close his eyes and duck back waiting for the worst.

However, the worst never came. A bright flash of light took place suddenly that prompted Tails to open his eyes. When he did he saw Sonic with his light fist pulled back as if he had just finished attacking something.

And he did. Zerokichi's stomach had a huge hole full of light now tearing away at his body. He slowly began to de-materialize.

"It's a shame… with all that power you could've actually done something good for the world…" Sonic motioned.

Zerokichi watched as he began to turn into tiny particles of dark matter… and grinned.

_"No… it was too late for me to go the way of you all… the very instant I became infused with that alluring power… all that power…"_

He whispered as his body soon disappeared into nothingness.

"…_That magnificent power… and the world it could create…"_

Sonic and Tails simply stood there as they realized the evildoer was no longer in their mist. However they still had a problem on their hands.

"The core is gonna explode Sonic! What do we do now?" Tails asked.

"… Well… I guess we… stop it in a way that doesn't involve getting it to explode…" Sonic said.

"But… how?"

"… I don't know buddy… but we have to try something… because like it or not… times running out… for all of us…"

Again I apologize for the long awaited update. I got caught up in homework and playing Sonic Unleashed. Easily the best Sonic game in a long time. Anyway the final chapter is next time. See you all soon.


	42. Chapter 42

**_Hello everyone and welcome to the final chapter of Homeless Two Tail. It's been a very long time coming and I thank all you readers who have read and reviewed. Seriously, 336 reviews are more then most fanfics on this site ever get. And how many times this story had been added to other people's favorites is amazing as well. I hope you guys will look into some of the stories I'm hoping to write in the future. I hope you all enjoy the Epilogue._**

**Snake15000: It is time!!!**

**Kitsune-awesomness: Yes, I'll admit I've been a bit lazy. Oh well. I'm finally here for the finalie!**

**kilaTails: Uh Hurray!?**

**Kitsune-Superfox: I'm a bit sad too. It's been so long that this story was first put out there.**

**Silver Sheilds: It really was easy wasn't it? He gave so much of his power to the damn core that he had little for himself... poor guy. Oh well. Hope you enjoy the final chapter.**

**You'vebeenJayed: All right! It was nice hearing from you again man.**

_Return to Betwixt and Between_

"We don't have a lot of time."

"Yeah."

"But we also don't have any reason to worry."

"… With you around Sonic… there's never a reason to worry…"

"Thanks buddy… I'm cool like that after all."

"So what's the plan?"

"… Well…"

The core that floated in front of Super Sonic and Tails was fluctuating harder and faster then ever before. Electricity sparked and crackled around it. There was no stopping the giant red meteor looking crevice from eventually exploding in the middle of this vast, endless void.

But somehow, someway, Sonic and Tails were going to put a stop to it! It had to be done… otherwise all they've worked for would certainly be lost…

The core let out another loud burst of surging power. Down below the people of Station Square looked on at the scene through the opened portal with mild fear. They weren't sure how it was going to end. Was it really because of their actions that this was taking place?

Smokestack sat there on a crumbled rock thinking about how all these events transpired. His clan was coming to mind again. When didn't they throughout this whole adventure?

"We strived to bring peace to the planet as best we could… and even we couldn't go on without corruption within ourselves…" Smoke mumbled.

"You're not worried are you?" Rouge spoke up with a sly and unhindered look on her face. "That'd be a bit out of character for you wouldn't it?"

"… Not at all… it's human nature to be worried after all… it's the nature of all mortals actually… not just humans. Whether Zerokichi chose to believe it or not, in the end he was a mortal just like the rest of us… yet he let the darkness inside his heart consume his judgment and take over his place in this world…" Smoke stated.

"Really… I could've told you that." Rouge said silently.

"Yeah… defeating him shouldn't have been so quick… but it was only due to the fact that his weakness was so glaringly obvious that it couldn't have possibly ended any other way… now his power lives on inside that core…"

" … I don't think that's true… about this being his only possible end I mean. Anyone can always find there way back to the light after being so infused with darkness… and vise-versa. If Zerokichi had a deeper desire to turn to the light again… it might've saved him… just something to think about." Rouge explained as they both continued to watch the scene.

Sonic and Tails were now in the process of using their powers to contain the force that was bursting to break free. Whether it was successful or not was questionable… at least until the core's electricity struck both their hands.

"Argh! I-It's not working… T-Tails… how are you holding up!?" Sonic asked.

"I'm fine… I'm still fine…" Tails answered still a bit frazzled and in slight pain.

The power wouldn't stop trying to burst through however. The fluctuations just grew and grew. Eventually Sonic and Tails were struggling to use their own life energy to keep the core the way it was.

"I-It's not working… Zerokichi's will to make this thing burst is incredible!" Sonic said not giving up.

Tails didn't answer as he simply pushed on while thinking of how the situation was going and how it related to his own resolve.

_'We've come so far… I'm so close to that wonderful life I wanted to live… soon… soon it'll be just Sonic, our friends, and me! I'll have a big brother to remind me that I'm not alone anymore!'_ Tails thought as he pushed on.

Their eyes were both clamped shut as the powerful electric vibes were starting to get to them. It was maddening! Were they really this helpless against his power?

"We beat him… we can beat this… I know it… come on Tails! We've got to use ALL out energy!" Sonic said as a small vein started to show itself on his head.

Tails had _two_ veins penetrating his head by now.

"I… but I… if we draw too much we'll drain our life energy!" Tails shouts in retaliation.

The core is now a bright white color. It's about ready to burst!

...

"T-Tails… y-you're doubting your true power… no way this thing has more energy then us! Dig deeper! Find more! You can do it! Just let it all loose! GO WILD!" Sonic shouts back as he grunts trying to use his power to overcome the core.

His power began to flow around it completely. It was a little more then half of what he thought would be necessary. However, Tails was still holding back.

"S-Sonic… I-It hurts!" Tails said trying to draw out his power. He could barely get his vision to focus and his heart was beating a mile a minute. He had never expected to go from a worthless kid eating scraps off the street to super-powered fox trying to save the universe from an imploding energy core!

Tails was fatigued. He was scared. He was hurting so badly. He was under so much pressure. All of this was more then a kid his age would be able to handle. He felt himself beginning to pass out.

It felt like he was drifting away from the scene. All of the stuff that was happening was simply not there anymore. His current situation, his pain, his fear, and his brother… they weren't in his field of awareness anymore.

'_I'm… drifting away… but I want… to stay by his side… I can't give up! NOT when we're so close!'_

Tails started to force himself to come back to the scene. His power, which had started to diminish, had begun to grow again. Sonic looked on and smiled.

"You're truly a wonder Tails." Sonic smirked as the fox slowly came back to his senses.

Eventually they were both back in control of themselves and struggling harder to keep the core from bursting as best they could.

"Now then Tails… you ready to do this!" Sonic shouted pushing against it with all his might and then some.

"… Y-YEAH! BORN READY!!!" Tails shouted back sending a surge of all his power and more directly at the core.

The energy mass was but seconds from imploding when the full force of the brother's power took hold on it. The power was being forced back! It was working!

Simply 'working' wasn't enough however. It needed to 'WORK'!

"Just give it a bigger push! You can do it! I know you can!" Sonic said as they kept it up.

"N-No… WE can do it! We're going to win! I'm not gonna be beaten by a stupid core!" Tails said struggling to let his power engulf the huge mass.

The target in question acted as if it didn't know what to do with all the extra power. It flowed inward and out, back and forth, and eventually started to move all over the place.

"Good! GREAT! It's working!" Sonic said as they continued to push their power out.

The core sparked and pounded as the two continued. The energy of it started to minimize. It grew smaller and smaller until eventually…

...

"Almost… there…" Tails grinned and tried his hardest to keep it up. He was sweating and extraordinarily tired.

That's when a loud eruption of light jetted out at Sonic and Tails. The two were forced to squint their eyes at the outburst of power. It however was a wondrous site.

The power was being released in a deadly context however it wasn't harming anyone. The light within the core was shooting outward with a fierce motion yet the scene itself was beautiful.

The citizens of Station Square looked on with esteemed amazement. They all awed at the spectacle in unison as the light sparkled and was sent outward across the sky. The lights flew across the night sky as if they were shooting stars.

Eggman looked on in

with his robots and half-robotic messenger boy.

"WOW!" Bokkun said raising his hands up at the scene.

"It is beautiful!" Decoe said.

"It is simply glorious!" Bocoe said back.

Eggman continued to stare at it and recalled a silent memory of him as a 3-year-old watching the night sky with his late older cousin. He recalled how they acted like siblings towards each other and how they had always wanted to see shooting stars together… from the planet below…

"… I guess… I've found something I can actually sympathize with the hedgehog now… heheheh… an older sibling is it… well… you never know what surprises you might see if you live long enough eh?" Eggman mumbled to himself.

"Huh? You say something doctor?" Bokkun asked.

Eggman shook his head.

"Nope… it's nothing… just thinking about my future plans to eventually kill Sonic… AND his note-worthy little brother… Eheheheheheh!" Eggman stated.

Bocoe, Decoe, and Bokkun all smiled and laughed with him.

...

Sonic and Tails had done it. The core was nothing but a mass of harmless light now. The two brothers fell out of the void completely exhausted. Having done so caused the void to close up behind them.

Sonic and Tails fell towards the city below feeling almost nothing as they decended. Of course they weren't the ones to go out so easily.

Espio caught Tails and Sonic was caught by Vector.

Told you the fall was nothing.

"You guys are simply amazing." Vector said.

"Cool! My own ninja skills couldn't top the miracle you guys pulled off." Espio said.

Charmy and Shimon danced around with a cheer. Eventually the entire city followed their lead and cheered as well.

Cries of "You're my heroes!", "Yay Sonic!", "Tails is so Kawaii!" , and other forms of praise were blurted out.

In the confusion however, Eggman and his lackeys were able to fly off. Another day, another scheme after all.

The two exhausted heroes simply turned to each other in the Chaotix's hands and grinned. Sonic winked and gave Tails his signature thumbs up and Tails did so back.

It was indeed a miraculous success and for the first time in his life, Tails was a hero.

**Epilogue**

_1 month later_

_Corolla Isle (Previously known as Magma Mill)_

The inhabitants of the previously ruled area known as Magma Mill to the now deceased Eggman commander Combustion Fire were now making great progress in bringing their once horribly intense and deadly area back to the way it once was.

The area was given back its original name: Corolla Isle. The citizens of the area were all doing great as well, more noticeably, Citrus the Ferret and Scorch the Raccoon.

"Hey Scorch! Check this out!" Citrus shouted from the news-stand where him and Scorch were rebuilding the area.

"Hmm… what is it?" Scorch said a bit annoyed by being interrupted while he was working. The raccoon stretched a bit before approaching Citrus to see what all the fuss was about.

"This newspaper! Look who's on the front!" Citrus said holding it up. Scorch scoffed a bit as he didn't understand why he couldn't just be told but then forgot it when he realized who they were.

"… Heh… Sonic and Tails… those guys…" Scorch mumbled looking at the black and white picture of a parade in Station Square being held for the two heroes.

"I guess whatever mission they wanted to accomplish… they did it." Citrus smiled. Scorch did as well even though he had his standards when it came to heartwarming moments.

"Yeah… those two were too incredible not to have reached whatever goal they wanted… and it's thanks to them that Combustion is gone. We owe a lot to them." Scorch said.

Citrus laughed and grinned at Scorch.

"Yeah! When they decide to visit again we'll sell them you! Since they're going to be celebrities they might as well have a maid." Citrus laughed. Scorch got an anime vein to pop out on his head.

"Here!" Scorch slammed the newspaper into Citrus' face with little warning. The ferret fell over in slight surprise. "Take it and do your little hero worship dance somewhere else! I'm busy!" Scorch yelled as he trotted off.

Citrus took the paper off his face and simply sighed with a hint of glee in his expression.

"Thanks Sonic… and you too Tails." He said silently before getting up and following the annoyed raccoon.

_Green Hill_

Princess Patella sat out back with her head bowed to the gravesite of her companion Strobe Lightning.

She was still trying to get over his death but soon released it wasn't something that you should have to get over. It's something you'll have to face head on and hope for the best in the future.

Strobe's legacy lived on in the village despite how many people were killed on that faithful day. Nobody blamed Strobe. It was Eggman who was pulling the strings no matter how the sliced it.

She sat there and prayed and before long little Shimon came out of the home they shared together and greeted her with glee.

"Good morning Miss. Patella… Are you praying for Strobe again?" The boy asked with obvious curiosity.

Patella simply nodded and watched as the boy hurried over and sat beside the princess.

"Well then I'll do it too this time. I may not have met him but if he's a friend of yours and Sonic's then he's a friend of mine too." Shimon smiled as he and the princess continued.

Patella couldn't help but feel glad. She had offered Shimon a place to stay after Hang Nail had killed his parents. It was the least she could do after all.

They both sat there together and happily prayed for what had passed and what was to come in the future.

_Christmas Island_

"YEEEHAAAW!" The inhabitants of Christmas Island all shouted with excitement and merriment as the news of Sonic and Tails' triumph quickly spread around the planet.

"Can you believe that kid of yours?" Antiguan laughed as he spoke with Sonic's father and shared a drink.

"Yeah, I never would've guessed… my little Sonic." Sonic's dad started to reminisce about when Sonic was about Tails' age. He sighed a bit before Antiguan broke his train of thought.

"Yeah really! The little tike and the littler tike are celebrities now! I'm a little jealous!" Antiguan laughed with his hotel mates as they all shared drinks and partied hard.

Elsewhere, in the same party area, Yaupon was with Sonic's mom making everyone decorative party hats.

"This is exciting! I can't believe Sonic and Tails actually did it." Little Yaupon having died and come back to life due to Tails' Kitsune powers was feeling happier then ever. Karst Ice had killed his father, Todd Banks, after he betrayed the inhabitants of the island.

Yaupon didn't know whether or not it was a bad thing that he didn't miss his old father. He chose not to dwell on it however and kept making the hats for everyone.

He looked around and noticed how happy everyone looked and all the destructive party elements that were taking place. It was clearly a sight to behold. He had never seen so many people so happy before.

"I'm glad I could be apart of this…" Yaupon mumbled.

"We're glad you could too. It'd be a shame if you had to miss out due to problems at home." Sonic's mom smiled.

"… Yeah… you must be pretty proud to have a son like that." Yaupon said.

"What are you talking about? I've got _two_ sons to be proud of now."

_Big's hut_

Big the Cat's life went back to the way it was quickly. He returned to his hut and continued to live his easy yet happy life with his little buddy, Froggy.

As of now him and Froggy were fishing and sleeping at the same time. The fish didn't seem to be around today for some reason but then again that's usually the case most of the time. It didn't bother him.

His G.U.N badge and communicator remained in his hut not forgotten but most likely not to be used often at all as well.

All he needed was his little friend, his fishing pole, and lazy days in the sun. That was all.

_G.U.N Headquarters in Frog Forest_

Smokestack was at peace.

His definition of peace was finally reinstated. Not only was he given a heavy promotion but he was given his own new fleet of men and the job of the idiot Admiral who sent the Assassination Group 7 out into Coordinates 000 and got them all killed.

His shinny new boots rested on top of his equally new and waxed desk. Not only was he at peace within G.U.N, he was at peace with himself.

His clan, the one that fought to protect the peace and never yield to corruption, lived on inside him. And it would continue to do so as long as Smokestack had the means to make sure of it. Before he could ponder any longer a soldier made his way inside.

"Sir!" He said giving a salute.

"Is something wrong?" Smokestack asked slowly taking his boots off the desk.

"Oh no sir. The party just got started! They're waiting for the guest of honor to show up!" The soldier chuckled.

Smokestack couldn't help himself and started to laugh.

"Really? Me? Guest of honor? Never thought I'd see the day… Fine then. I'll be there." Smoke motioned prompting the soldier to turn around and leave.

He sat there quietly for about 2 seconds before speaking up again.

"Okay Rouge… come out." He said a bit slyly.

Without a hitch the white bat in question fell from the ceiling and landed on Smokestack's desk. In her hands was a bouquet of flowers and a white box.

"Hi." She spoke.

"What do you want?"

"Oh! Someone's cheery today! Usually when you speak I always hear that loud sound of seriousness penetrating the air!" Rouge laughed.

"Do you want that back? Cause I can make it happen."

"Eheheh… no… thank you… I've come to drop a few things off before I get back to my thieving."

"Hm?"

Rouge handed Smoke the flowers and put the white box on his desk. She then put two fingers on top of it and opened the small thing up revealing a beautiful white diamond.

"Tada! Isn't it gorgeous! It even matches your smoke." She said a bit jokingly.

Smoke sat back and chuckled.

"Thanks… If we ever meet again…"

"Yeah, yeah I know. Live long and prosper. Yada yada yada. That old jazz. I'll see you again somewhere in the tabloids. I've got a nice targeted area I want to get my charming butt down too. See ya!"

With that Rouge jumped up and out of the room off to do what it is she did best.

Smokestack looked up and then back down at the diamond.

"Hmm… let me guess… stolen?" He mumbled before putting it in his desk and heading off to the party with his high ranked head held high.

It was defidently a new era for him and his clan.

_Chaotix Detective Agency_

"Now THIS is the life!" Vector shouted lying back in his chair and wheezing out a sigh of relief.

Espio came into the agency and sighed. He looked over and saw Charmy sitting on the couch in his light blue-footed pjs and Vector lounging in a chair.

"What's wrong with the scenery here? We left for quite a while guys. Don't we have an overabundance of bills to look into?" Espio asked.

Charmy grinned and shouted.

"Cash day! Cash time! Yay!"

Espio was confused. Vector, however, not skipping out on a chance to flaunt his cash stood up and made his way over to Espio. The chameleon immediately felt uncomfortable as Vector promptly got all up in his face.

"WE HAVE MONEY!!!" He shouted making Espio jump.

"YIPPIEEE!" Charmy yelled in his childish manner.

"Wh-what?" Espio was a bit confused.

"We got a HUGE loan from the Government for helping Sonic out at Coordinates 000. Added to what we got from taking down the Mortal Slicer we now have more then enough extra money to last us months of not worrying about the rent! Maybe even a year or two!"

Espio was a bit in shock.

"So… what does this mean? What do we do with all the money?" Espio asked a bit anxious.

Vector lifted Charmy onto his shoulders and chuckled.

"We do whatever! We're going on **vacation** boys!" Vector smiled and Charmy cheered.

"Haha! Sounds great! Don't forget to pack the bee's pull-ups!" Espio said turning around.

Little Charmy blushed.

"Espo's just jealwus dat he can't wear pull-ups!" Charmy said. Vector laughed.

"Believe me kid. I'm not jealous of something like that." Espio remarked a bit taken a back.

"You know, we can make Espio not be jealous anymore by granting his wish." Vector said looking up at Charmy who sat snuggly over the crocodile's shoulders.

"Yeah! Espo wear a pull-up!" Charmy shouted. Espio's sweat dropped.

"H-Hey! What are you talking about!?" The chameleon backed up.

"Get over here you baby chameleon!" Vector and Charmy laughed as they advanced.

"Damnit! Everyday with this nonsense!" Espio immediately turned and ran out the agency with Vector and Charmy following close behind in pure happiness.

_Angel Island_

Knuckles was back where he belonged. His huge Master Emerald was back where _it _belonged and he was returned to peace once more.

Why he did all that for Sonic and Tails, he'll never know but then again he doesn't care. He did more good then bad after all.

"Now all I need to do is figure out a way to get cable installed up here…" He murmured.

_Eggman's lab_

"Doctor! Guess what! Sonic and Tails are being thrown another party next week! Can we crash this one! PLEASE!" Bokkun yelled as he Bocoe and Decoe barged in on the doctor hard at work on another one of his inventions.

"I would love nothing more then to do so guys but lately my schematics and schemes haven't been panned out as best as I would like them to be! It's simply maddening!" Eggman shouted in slight frustration.

"… We could play UNO." Bocoe suggested.

"It might help clear your mind." Decoe stated.

"… Naw… I think I'll just take a nap…" Eggman smirked.

The robots were confused a bit by his choice. Didn't he want to work nonstop to find a way to deal with Sonic?

"But doctor…" Bokkun began.

"It's final guys. Metal Sonic is gone. My commanders are destroyed. Even Hang Nail is dead now. They all got that way by hasty thinking. I need to rest. Plain and simple." Eggman explained as he yawned and stretched his way to bed.

Bocoe, Decoe, and Bokkun stared at each other for a second before shrugging and chuckling to themselves.

"He's finally learning how to be a better villain." Bocoe said happily.

"I'm so proud of him." Decoe remarked.

"We'd better still stay on our toes though. Who knows how long this good characterization will last." Warned Bokkun.

"SHUT UP OUT THERE! I'M TRYING TO REST!!!" Eggman yelled prompting the three lackeys to jump.

They stood in silence before giggling to themselves. It was a new start for the Eggman Empire. That was certain.

_Amy's house_

"Thanks for your help Bartleby." Amy said to her former fiancée as the set-up for her new house had finally been completed.

"My pleasure to help Amy. It's lucky that you were born a rich girl or else getting this house set up would've been a bigger hassle then it was." He said while wiping his forehead.

"Yeah, I'm glad the end result was so glorious though." Amy remarked getting ready to head inside the new house.

"I'm deeply sorry about your parents…"

"Hey. Forget about it. I miss them but I need to focus on the positives in this time of peace…"

"Yeah… that would be most wise… I must ask you though. We choose to relocate here?" Bartleby asked.

"Why?" Amy chuckled. "It's the only area in the fields that's the closest to the Mystic Ruins that's why. Sonic and his little brother Tails are living there you know." Amy smiled.

Bartleby quickly understood and asked nothing more of it.

"Well best of luck Amy. I shall see you again soon!" Bartleby bowed to her in which Amy curtsied back.

They waved goodbye and went their separate ways.

Amy stood in front of her new house with the sign saying _"The Home of Amy Rose"_ in front of the lawn and the air nice and brisk. She took in a deep breath and headed on inside ready to begin her new life.

It was going to be a life that Sonic would undoubtedly play a huge role in.

_Mystic Ruins- Sonic's house_

Tails stood there in front of the mirror in his bedroom blushing and scanning over his appearance.

"Sonic… why do I have to wear these? These are for little kids like Charmy." Tails whined as he tugged at the pull-up around his waist.

Sonic laughed a bit.

"Tails, I told you that you don't have to wear them all the time. It's just at night." Sonic smirked while giving his embarrassed little bro a noogie.

"Hahaha! Stop it! I still don't get why!" Tails struggled. Sonic stopped and chuckled somemore.

"It's because of your bedwetting problem buddy. Living alone on that awful island **barely **even got you potty trained. It's going to be tough getting you up to speed with all the other four year olds. Why I bet you've never been to an amusement park yet." Sonic sighed.

Tails looked a bit confused.

"What's an amusement park?"

"… Thought so." Sonic shook his head and laughed somemore. His life was going to be a lot different now that he had a little brother to look after. It was going to be a tough job but with a little hard work and elbow grease it'll turn out great for sure.

Tails and Sonic yawned and stretched, as they got ready for bed.

"Well then, I'll see ya in the morning." Sonic said turning on Tails' night-light and getting ready to leave. "Tomorrow we're going to the biggest amusement park my awesomeness was awesome enough to locate. In other words, we'll be going to the best one." The hedgehog laughed.

Tails chuckled and gave his brother a thumbs up.

Sonic gave one back and turned to leave.

A split second later however, Tails called Sonic back into the room.

"Wait! Sonic!" The fox shouted. Sonic ran back into the room a bit worried.

"What? What happened?"

He saw Tails sitting on the bed in his pull-up blushing a bit.

"I uh… kinda want you to… I'm mean we've been away from the house for so long I thought that… the first night back we could…"

"Sleep together?"

"…"

Sonic sighed. The needs of a four-year-old were a harsh mistress. Oh well.

"Sure. I'm down with that…"

"Thanks…" Tails mumbled still a bit cross about something. Sonic quickly noticed and almost felt a bit frustrated. Not at Tails but at the fact that he wasn't fulfilling his promise to keep the fox happy.

Sonic came over and sat on the bed.

"What's the matter buddy? You can tell me all you need to." Sonic said in a comforting voice.

Tails fiddled with his fingers until he realized he was taking a while to answer.

"M-my parents… I…"

"… Yeah."

"I wonder… if they're proud of me."

"Heh Heh. Well why wouldn't they be proud? You've done so many amazing things for such a young kid."

"I know but… all those people I killed-"

Sonic stopped him there.

"That wasn't your fault. It was Zerokichi's silent manipulation… Station Square forgives you Tails. I forgive you Tails. Why can't you forgive yourself?" Sonic asked a bit concerned.

"I guess… I feel a bit like I didn't deserve all that praise I got… maybe I am overreacting though. After all, I've made so many new friends! I don't think I'm worthless anymore! I'm a member of your childhood club! Your parents accept me as their son! I've got everything now except…" Tails stopped and looked down.

"Except what?" Sonic asked feeling a bit suspenseful.

"Except…reassurance." Tails mumbled.

"Hmm?"

"How will I know that all of this will stay the way it is in the future? How do I know this won't all end when I'm grown up! It's scary Sonic…" Tails said almost ready to tear up.

The hedgehog sat there for a moment before smiling and bringing his little bro in close.

"Come on little guy. Don't be like that. I always look forward to the future because I know that whatever is out there waiting for is worth getting to." Sonic said.

"How do you know?" Tails looked up.

"I don't know for sure… it's just this feeling I get. I'm like the wind buddy. I go wherever it takes me…Just follow the path you want to take in life and you'll eventually reach a future worth reaching. That's the best I've got for you little dude." Sonic said in a comforting voice.

Tails smiled and nodded.

"I get it… is that really it?"

"I'd tell you more but I seemed to have misplaced my crystal ball." The blue hedgehog laughed in response. Tails laughed as well.

"Okay. I understand."

"Anything else before we drift off to dreamland?" Sonic asked.

Tails thought for a second.

"Well… this pull-up feels really weird wearing for the first time and I was wondering…"

"You're not getting out of that thing buddy so don't even try." Sonic remarked.

"Oh no. I don't want to get out of it. I want to feel more comfortable in it." Tails said while grinning a bit evilly at Sonic. The grin scared the hedgehog a bit.

"A-And how would I go about making you feel better wearing it?" Sonic asked almost afraid of the answer.

Tails reached into the package and pulled out another pull-up and waved it in front of Sonic's face. It took a while for the hedgehog to catch on.

"Y-You want ME too-"

"YUP! It's so I won't feel alone while wearing it. PLEEEEEEEEEASE!" Tails begged which prompted Sonic to blush. He rarely ever did that.

"Eh… okay… I guess since we're the only ones who'll know about it… I'll… I'll wear the stupid pull-up." Sonic hesitated.

"Haha! Hurray!" Tails said hugging his older brother. Sonic sighed and hugged him back.

After Sonic had put the thing on the two got into bed and sighed in unison at how comfy they both felt.

"Hehehehe. You're wearing a pull-up." Tails laughed.

"So are you squirt!" Sonic said in defense.

"Yeah whatever…" Tails said staring up at the ceiling.

"… I won't lie to you buddy… as brothers we're going to face a lot of obstacles. Sometimes there will be disagreements. Other times I'll have to punish you if you do something wrong. And other times we might get into fights and disagreements about the littlest things…" Sonic spoke.

"Really? Are you saying we're going to hate each other?" Tails asked confused.

Sonic laughed.

"No. We're just going to go through what all brothers do. No matter how good we get along there will be times where we will disagree with each other." Sonic said.

"Oh… I get it…" Tails murmured a bit sleepily.

"Yeah. But no matter what, I want you to always remember that no matter how often we may fight or disagree… we'll always be brothers and I'll always love you like one." Sonic chuckled.

"Thanks Sonic… I'll always love you like a brother too…" Tails yawned about ready to catch a few Z's.

"Heh Heh. It's okay buddy… you can sleep now. You're gonna need it for what's coming tomorrow." Sonic said patting the little fox on his fuzzy little head.

Tails nodded before he drifted off into a deep, relaxing sleep.

Sonic stayed awake for a short while longer thinking about how his life changed so quickly. It had been a long time coming and in the end he now has a little brother to look after.

It'll be a bumpy ride but Sonic's handled worse after all.

With his hope for what was to come in the future still high he lay down on his pillow and went to sleep next to his all ready sleeping little brother; Tails the fox.

***Cries* Well everyone, that's it. The final chapter of Homeless Two Tail after such a long time. I'd like to thank every last one of you who supported this story through to its completion. I hope the ending was to your liking! Look forward to more stories by me if I ever get the chance to write them. Hopefully I will. Goodbye everyone and I hope to hear from you all again soon. **


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